Wrong Side of the Ocean
                          in association with
                    Smalltime Writers, International
                                presents
                    a tale of Undocumented Features

                         H A M M E R   T I M E

                               BOOK THREE

                             by Martin Rose
     (a.k.a. PCHammer, The High Diggy-Hoek of Chihuahua-Wala Land)

                    with Chris Meadows (a.k.a. Mako)

  Based on events and situations created by Gryphon, MegaZone, ReRob,
           and too many others than could be readily counted.
    They will all deny any connection with this work if questioned.

Dedicated to the gang at WPI, who've all worked far too hard on
Undocumented Features and deserve to have a part of it write itself.

A FAIR WARNING to the reader:  The following story contains many
references and concepts blatantly stolen from other sources.  If that
bothers you, feel free to ignore this entire tale.  If not, have a ball.


42 ---------- I Am a Rock

   Eiko stood in front of the mirror in her suite, posing for no one in
particular.  She was stripped to her underwear and regarding what she
saw with a frown.
   Along with the rest of the Clay Pigeons, she'd taken the surviving
crew of the Righteous Indignation to find rooms in Utopia Planitia for
the duration.  They'd given a thumbnail sketch of what had occurred -- a
sudden coup aboard the ship led by agents of GENOM, accompanied by a
surprise attack, had managed to wipe out the ship's entire crew, save
for the four that returned.  Even though Nadia, the tall, dark-skinned
woman and their chief engineer, had readily diagnosed the sabotaged
areas of the Reflex engine, it took them over two weeks to complete
their repairs due to the severe manpower shortage.
   The RI folk had expressed no small astonishment at the deserted state
of UP.  That, at least, was something they had in common with Eiko and
the other Pigeons.  From the accounts given, it was apparent that the RI
coup took place at nearly the same time as the fall of the Wayward Son.
GENOM's plan was far more thorough than even Eiko dared to fear.
   And she used to work for them, too.
   A more complete debriefing would take place tomorrow.  The rooms were
set up, and everyone was accounted for.  Everyone, that is, except two
people.
   Martin and Noriko, according to internal scans, were still where they
had been since the Indignation's acting captain had fallen headlong into
her own grief.  At least, that's where they were an hour and a half ago,
which was the last time anyone'd checked.
   Eiko looked herself over again.  She once more had that feeling of
inferiority -- some would even say inadequacy -- just like when Shasti
had appeared back on the SDF-17.  Noriko may have been shorter than
herself, but even under that uniform, Eiko could detect an incredible
figure of a girl.  Slender, perfectly toned and well-built, with warm
brown eyes and auburn hair accenting a truly lovely face.  It all added
up to a captivating look that was just reaching out to snatch him away--
   Eiko shook her head.  Jealousy would do no one any good here.  They
were all together, for the duration.  All in the same boat, literally.
Well, once they got it patched up.  Her eyes followed the curve of her
outline down to the floor, then back up.
   She pinched at her waist.  Am I getting fat?  Maybe that's why he's
with her and not me...
   Eiko pounded on her head with her fist.  Stop it, stop it, stop it!
Right now!  What kind of team player will you be if you can't even trust
the people you'll be working with?
   Eiko glared at her reflection, enraged with herself.  Her look
softened, and she ran a hand through her long, scarlet locks.  She
turned sideways to check her profile.  Maybe if my bust...
   The door to the suite slid open, startling her out of her funk.  It
was nearly silent; if she'd been making any noise at all, she wouldn't
have heard it.  She grabbed her bathrobe and threw it on herself,
yelping when she over-tightened the sash around her waist.  She turned
to vent some anger at the new arrival, who walked soundlessly into the
room.
   Martin strode with a look of sadness Eiko had never seen on his face
before.  His eyes followed the floor, staring at some point infinitely
below his feet.  Her momentary anger melted into sympathy as he paced
past her without a glance, seeming unaware of her presence.  He stopped
at the suite's enormous window, facing out into the eternal night.
   Eiko approached him slowly.  "Diggy?"  She reached out to bring an
arm around his waist.
   His hand shot out like lightning, grabbing her wrist before she'd
even put it behind his back.  Eiko gasped in astonishment, then let her
head drop, expecting a reprimand as Martin turned himself to face her.
   Instead, he pulled her off the ground by the arm, released her, let
her sail through the air and begin to fall back down, caught her with
both hands around her waist, and pulled her up to him, burying his head
in her shoulder as he wrapped his hands around her small frame.
   Eiko blushed slightly, caught completely off-guard.  Once she'd
recovered herself, she smiled and gently stroked the back of his head.
"Ssshhhhh, Diggy," she whispered, resting her head on his.
   "Eiko..." he mumbled, his voice muffled by the soft material of her
robe.
   "Mm?"
   "Tell me it's not so bad as it seems."
   This surprised her.  For the past couple weeks, he'd been the one
playing the supportive role, and she the one needing a lift.  Until now,
she didn't realize she took that so much for granted.
   She pulled his head up and planted a kiss on his forehead.  She let
herself slide down in her robe and pressed her lips into his, a gesture
he responded to warmly and eagerly.
   Her nose intercepted something damp moving down his cheek.  Eiko let
his sad tears wash her jealousy away.
   A song she used to like when they were still aboard the Son had as
its closing line, "A rock feels no pain, and an island never cries."
   But then, he always used to tell her, "No man is an island."
   (The fact that he'd always added "but Dom DeLuise sure comes close"
escaped her memory at the moment.)

   Noriko took two steps backward, allowing the door to slide shut
behind her.  She edged, then walked, then jogged down the corridor.  A
sob escaped her only when she was certain he couldn't hear it.
   Her vision blurred, she ran back to her room, nearly mowing down
Korren, her Salusian shipmate.  He asked her what was wrong; she just
pushed past him.  Once inside her suite, she threw herself onto the
sofa, swearing a silent oath as she fought to control her emotions:
   I'll never give up on you, Marty.  Never.

   The brown eyes stared blankly out of the screen as the voice droned
mechanically.  "WDF Righteous Indignation, Captain's log.  Executive
Officer Noriko Takaya acting in the stead of the late Captain Buchanan
O'Hare."
   Martin flopped over.  After receiving Noriko's half-hearted consent
(he'd gotten her to nod, if not to say 'yes' outright), he'd gone over
the official ship's logs of the RI for all command staff in preparation
for tomorrow's debriefing session.
   The left side of her face was swelled, and her left eye didn't quite
open fully.  A trickle of dried blood was visible down her right cheek.
"Instruments show that three days have passed since Captain O'Hare made
the previous log entry.  As I speak, the situation aboard the Righteous
Indignation has quieted."
   He turned to his side and closed his eyes.  He did the review alone
after seeing Noriko to a room, since she'd pretty much become a basket
case after he'd removed her shell of cold professionalism.
   "Our ship underwent a mutiny of unspeakable proportions, combined
with what I can only assume to be a coordinated enemy strike.  Mutineers
eventually identified themselves as being either planted by or aligned
with the GENOM Corporation, as well as the True Sons of Kilrah and their
allies."
   He shifted his head to the other pillow.  He'd made his review as
complete as he could, driven dually by the need to know what had
happened, and the desire to see what could cause his oldest friend to
retreat so severely into herself.
   "Captain O'Hare died at the hands of our Security Chief, who revealed
himself to be an engineered, artificial construct.  The bridge was
captured, and fighting broke out in every part of the ship.  Several
explosives were detonated in strategic areas of the ship, crippling
defense systems, communications and the Reflex furnace, and decimating
our inactive fighter force.  An estimate on the time required for
repairs is pending.
   "The external assault was repelled through a truly heroic effort.
The battle lasted over an hour, and the Righteous Indignation sustained
over two dozen major hits.  I regret to report, however, that all
fighters were lost after the enemy's withdrawal, when survivors were
shot down by mutineers' fire.
   "Treatment of prisoners by the mutineers was cruel at best, and
almost unilaterally lethal.  No fewer than fifty were executed before my
eyes, by every torturous means at the mutineers' disposal.  I can only
hypothesize that my life was spared for the sake of certain mutineers'
pleasure, as I was physically violated by approximately fourteen men
during the two days I was in their custody.
   "The actions of those who fought, and died, for the sake of the
Righteous Indignation and the Wedge Defense Force are hereby gratefully
acknowledged.  We will return to Utopia Planitia as soon as our fold
system is back on-line.  Takaya out."
   Martin fell onto his back, staring numbly at the ceiling.  The log
replayed in his mind, again and again, and he couldn't make it stop.
   When he kept his eyes open, he saw her devoid of emotion, sealing
herself off from what had happened.  Another moment, he would see her
face stained with tears, her mind reeling from the horror that had kept
her powerless and used her obscenely.  It was a terrible sight to
behold.
   But it sure beat what he saw when his eyes closed.  He would get no
sleep tonight.
   Oh, Little Angel ... dear God, what can I do?

   "The first order of business will be to re-open the sealed-off
sections of the ship.  We can start replacing the armor and repairing
the fighter bays once that's done.  Korren, Dund and Blaster have
managed to get some of the shipyard's work mecha back up and can operate
it, so that won't be so hard as it would have been just a couple days
ago.  Eiko will act as floor manager."
   Martin marched around the head of the table of UP's main executive
conference room.  He alone was standing; everyone else was seated around
the enormous wood-and-marble table, including Blaster, who sat taller
than anyone else there stood.  Noriko was there as well, fatigued but
unwilling to surrender to grief.
   "Nadia, you'll be working with Danilia, Tom and Hanson.  We're not
going to leave this place with our engines sputtering like diesels.
Until that puppy can be certified as one hundred percent ready, willing
and able, we don't budge.
   "Noriko and I will be assisted occasionally by Blaster in whipping
the internal networking and comm systems back into shape.  Once we have
a free hand or two, we can start working on defense systems and other
non-essentials."
   Martin stopped pacing and leaned down, putting his palms on the
table.  "Does everyone have something to do?"
   "Yes, sir!" the entire assembly chimed.
   "Good.  And don't call me 'sir'.  Some of you outrank me, in case
you've forgotten, and I really doubt we're sticking to Wedge Defense
Force protocol at present.  Which brings me to my next item."
   He pushed himself upright.  "For better or worse, the Utopia Planitia
starbase and shipyards has been abandoned at the request of Baron Lord
Wolfgang Amadeus Fahrvergnugen -- we have a bit of video clarifying the
reasons behind it, for those of you who enjoy real-life horror.  Since
UP also serves as the galactic headquarters for the Wedge Defense Force,
this leaves the WDF in a peculiar state of limbo -- it still exists, but
no one's here to run it, so paychecks will be a little irregular in
coming.  I guess you could say we've been laid off.
   "Therefore, once we put Humpty Dumpty together again, our options are
... open.  Suggestions will be welcome at that time."  Martin began
pacing slowly toward the room's enormous viewing window.
   "I want everybody to give this careful thought.  Personally, I'm at a
loss for good ideas.  We may have to split up again -- but I'd rather
not."  He stood at the window, staring out into the pierced ebon as he
muttered, "We've said too damn many good-byes already."
   A long, assenting silence hung over the assembled group.
   Finally, Martin turned back to face them.  "Could someone tell me how
I got stuck being in charge?"
   No one else wanted the job, Dund signed.
   "Oh, yeah."  The Righteous Indignation folk looked perplexed.  "Add
that to the 'Things To Do' list, Dani.  We have to teach the RI people
sign language."
   "Got it."  Danilia tapped on a small notebook-size computer in front
of her.  She had on a pair of eyeglass-frames without lenses, just to
create a sense of secretariality.
   "Okay, anyone else have anything to say?"
   "I doubt it," Korren interjected.
   "Good enough.  All right, people -- let's get dangerous."
   Everyone went to do the things that needed doing.  Anything was
better than committee-style meetings.

43 ---------- See the Constellation

   Chris Meadows opened his eyes slowly, and with no small effort.  It
was an act he immediately regretted.  He groaned, producing a long, low
croaking sound.
   Oh, my brain.  Feels like someone's been using my head for a punching
bag.
   The light from the instrumentation seemed so bright it almost hurt to
look at it.  He slowly looked around himself, and every movement of his
head was rewarded with a buzzing pain lancing down his neck.  "Owie."
Memories started returning, first a trickle, then a flood ... the
mission ... Katie ... the Wayward Son ... the TIE fighters...
   BLEEEEP.  The noise assaulted Chris's ears.  He reached out blindly
and tabbed the key on the starboard comm screen.
   "This is Utopia Planitia Control callin' unidentified Valkyrie.  Do
you read?"
   "Uh..."  Chris fumbled for a moment before composing a reply.
"Utopia Planitia, this is the Constellation."  Utopia Planitia?  How did
he get here?  Then, he knew the answer.
   Damn it.

   Blaster had been tending the UP comm center since long-range scans
had first alerted him to the presence of the wayward fighter only
minutes ago.  He quickly keyed up an intercom channel.  "Hey, Hammer."
   Martin looked up from his evaluation of the Righteous Indignation's
on-board software, thumbing on his throat mike.  "Yo, Blaster.  Got an
ID on that unknown yet?"
   "Matter'a fact, I do.  It's the Constellation."
   Noriko, who was replacing some mangled wiring not far away, banged
her head on the bottom of a console as she shot upright.  "Ow!  Did he
say Constellation?"  Her hopeful smile was tempered by a wince as she
gently rubbed the sore spot.
   Well, well ... it's turning into a veritable family reunion, Martin
mused.  Nodding to Noriko, Martin continued, "Could'ja patch me in,
Blaster?"
   "No problemo."  A few taps later, he announced, "You're in."
   "Thanks.  Hey, Mako, how's tricks?"
   There was a pause at the other end of the connection, followed by
Chris's incredulous, if tired, voice.  "Hammer ... is that you?"
   "It was last time I checked."
   Yeah, it's him.  "I'm coming in ... I need a landing approach..."
   "Gotcha.  Blaster, give the man a landing vector.  Set him down in
the same bay as us."
   "Roger, Constellation, come in on runway D7563-A.  See you there,"
Blaster said.
   "Roger, wilco.  Coming in.  Mako out."
   "How long 'til he's in?" Martin asked.
   Blaster checked a status screen.  "At the speed he's goin', I'd say
about a minute."
   "And me without my rubber ducky."  Grabbing Noriko by the arm, Martin
ran out into a corridor, switching to Rotofoil mode on the fly.  Noriko
sat back and enjoyed the ride.

   The plane entered the yards unsteadily, wobbling slightly from side
to side.  As it came in, those present in the docking bay could see
obvious signs of battle damage.  Streaks of carbonization marred its
sides, and several pieces of armor plate were blown away, exposed
components sizzling and sparking underneath.
   The Constellation didn't quite make a perfect three-point landing.
In fact, it bounced a little, coming down hard on the slightly fractured
forward landing gear.  Leaving his ex-passenger on an elevated walkway
leading into the Righteous Indignation, Martin vaulted to the floor and
sprinted toward the fighter, wondering why Chris hadn't just landed in
Gerwalk mode.
   When the plane braked to a halt, Eiko was already beside it, pulling
down the boarding ladder from the nose compartment.  Chris pushed the
cockpit canopy up, slowly, then reached up to his neck to remove his
helmet.
   Eiko clambered up the ladder.  "Chris, are you all right?"  She
offered her hand to him.
   "I'm fine, dammit."  Chris waved away the assistance, let his helmet
drop to the seat, and pushed himself up by putting his hands on the rim
of the cockpit.  Eiko looked at him with alarm.  There was dried blood
on the right side of his CVR armor, and he was so pale his skin looked
nearly gray.
   Eiko jumped back to the ground as Chris put a leg over the rim of the
cockpit.  He immediately lost his balance and toppled over the side.
Fortunately, Martin was there to catch him.
   "No, you're not fine," he remarked as he lowered Chris to the ground.
   Eiko knelt beside Chris's prone form and put a hand on his forehead.
His skin was clammy and deathly cold.  "Mitra, he's in shock!"
   "All right ... I'll get him to sickbay."
   "Bring Korren with you!" Noriko shouted from her perch.  "He's a
part-time medtech!"
   "Thanks, Riko!  Eiko, grab ol' Fuzzy-Wuzzy and meet me there."
Hammer turned to Danilia.  "Dani, you work on the Constellation for now,
okay?"
   Danilia mock-saluted with an enthusiastic "Yes SIR!", giggling
lightly to cover her own concern.
   Martin hefted Chris's supine form and ran for an exit, tossing a
quick "And don't call me 'Sir'!" over his shoulder as he went.  He
transformed around Mako, and the unconscious pilot was in another
cockpit, strapped carefully upright in its seat.  The Rotofoil headed
for sickbay at a speed that would have been unsafe if anyone had been in
its path.

   Danilia watched Martin zoom out of the hangar bay as Eiko ran into
the Righteous Indignation, emerging in less than a minute with a rather
frightened Salusian flying helplessly behind her.  The others soon
dispersed from the area to resume their previous repair work, leaving
Dani alone with the Constellation.
   "It's been a long time," Danilia said, pacing up to the familiar
form.  "I remember when I helped Chris and Katie modify you."  She
allowed herself a moment of wistful remembrance for those days, back
when Chris had started teaching her about mechanics.  Now she was
putting those same skills to use on Chris's Valkyrie.  Funny how things
came full-circle like that.
   Danilia walked over to the nose gear.  As she crouched on the balls
of her feet to take a look at it, the ventral-mounted sensor head
swiveled slightly to point at her.  Dani wouldn't even have noticed if
it weren't for the faint hum of the rotor servos.
   Danilia blinked at the peculiarity, then shrugged and got back to
work.  The strut was badly mangled; it would have to be replaced.  Dani
got up and walked over to the wall panel that controlled the overhead
bay winches.  In order to replace the landing gear, the nose would have
to be lifted off the ground.
   As she reached up to the panel, the Valk head again swiveled to
follow her.  Danilia peered curiously at its sensor plate, which, of
course, stared blankly back at her.
   She decided to try an experiment.  She walked around the front of the
Valkyrie, to its starboard side.  The head camera followed her,
illumination from the overhead spotlights glinting off the glassy plate
as it hummed and rotated.
   Danilia cocked her head, looking at the camera.  "You're not supposed
to do that..." she said disquietedly.  "What's going on here?"  She ran
back around to the boarding ladder, halting beneath its base.  She
momentarily considered calling Tom or PCHammer on the intercom, but
decided against it.  "They'd just make fun of me if it was nothing."
Steeling herself, she grasped the ladder tightly and pulled herself up.

   Eiko skidded to a halt outside the first treatment room in sickbay.
She strode inside just in time to see Martin gingerly laying Chris onto
the room's only bed.  Korren staggered in behind her, his windblown fur
enhancing his utterly flabbergasted, frazzled look.  It was the first
time he'd ever traveled the Eiko Express, and he tried to reassure
himself that it would be the last.
   Martin looked toward the door.  "Kor!  Glad you could make it."
   "The, uh, invitation was hard to refuse."
   Martin smiled knowingly.  "Thanks, Little One."
   Eiko didn't reply.  She was already beside Chris, running a worried
hand down his face.  "Crom ... I know he's Detian, but still..."
   Korren pushed Martin aside, quickly assuming a veneer of medical
professionalism.  "You're right to be concerned, Eiko.  Contrary to what
many people think, there are limits even to what Detian physiology can
heal."  He pointed to a diagnostic unit jacked into the wall next to
her.  "Plug the free lead from that into the bed, will you?  The jack
should be right next to your hand."
   Eiko did as she was asked, and the bed's lights and displays
instantly came to life.  Korren proceeded to tap at the keypad before
him, and Martin moved around the foot of the bed to stand beside Eiko.
She wrapped her arms around his waist as she watched the Salusian work;
Martin replied with a gently massaging hand on her back.
   After less than half a minute of keying, Korren took a step away from
the bed.
   "Will he...?"
   Korren nodded.  "He'll be just dandy.  He may even be able to talk in
a few hours."
   Martin nodded.  "Thanks, Kor.  I'll give you a ride back to the bay,
unless you'd rather stay here..."
   "I'll take you up on that ride."  Korren folded his hands and looked
at the colorless face of his patient.  "I've done all I can, for now.
It's up to him."
   When Martin and Korren had left the room, Eiko leaned over the bed,
giving its silent occupant a sad kiss on the cheek.  "I'm sorry, Chris,"
she whispered.  "I'm sure Katie still loves you ... wherever she is."
She ran from the room, following the retreating sigh of the Rotofoil.

   "All right, who's in--?" Danilia began as her head cleared the rim of
the cockpit.  She broke off in mid-sentence as she found the cockpit
empty except for some burnt-out instruments, dried blood, and Chris's
CVR helmet.
   Guess no one's hiding in here trying to scare me, Danilia reasoned.
But what IS going on?  Did someone program it for surveillance?  She
vaulted the side of the cockpit and plopped down in the pilot's seat,
which, not being customized to her tiny frame, was too large by half.
"Let's see..."
   Sitting on the forward edge of the acceleration couch, both to be
close enough to the controls and to avoid the patches of dried blood on
the upholstery, Danilia powered up the instrument panel and called for a
status report.  Just as she'd thought, she couldn't make heads or tails
of it.  Chris's computer system was much more complicated than the one
in her own Valkyrie.  Hammer would probably understand it -- in fact,
he'd most likely helped to design it -- but he was in sickbay with the
pilot.
   Danilia reached out to try a few of the buttons when the central
nav/comm display derezzed.  Her hand froze in mid-gesture.  "What--?"
   Abruptly, a new image blipped onto the screen; an image of Katie
Tanner, wearing her WDF uniform.  "Hello."
   This being the last thing Dani had expected, she emitted a surprised
"BWA?!" and jumped back.  "Temper?" she asked after the moment's panic
had subsided.
   The image nodded.  "Yeah.  It's still me.  Sort of."
   Danilia looked behind herself, as if expecting to see her around the
corner.  "Where are you?"
   "All around you."  Katie's image made a sweeping arm gesture.  "I
seem to..."  She faltered, looked down, then went on.  "I seem to be a
Valkyrie fighter now."  She tried for sarcasm, but it kind of fell flat.
   Danilia leaned forward, not entirely certain how she could believe
what she was hearing.  "What happened?" she asked, her tone a cross
between fascination and horror.
   "I ... I don't really feel ... I'm just not ready to discuss it."
Katie's image looked down at its feet for a few seconds, then looked up
again, meeting Dani's gaze directly.  "Do me a favor, okay?  Don't tell
anyone else about this just yet ... I'm not sure what they'd say."
   Even though Danilia wasn't sure that it would be for the best, she
had no real choice but to say, "All right..."  What else COULD she do?
   "Thanks."
   "Y-you're welcome," Danilia said, feeling distinctly uncomfortable.
She had a dozen questions, none of which would probably be in good taste
to ask.  Questions such as:  How was Katie now a Valkyrie?  What had
happened to her body?  Would she be all right?
   "Um, could you do me another favor?" Katie asked.
   "Uh, sure, what?" Danilia asked.
   "Get to work on repairing me.  The fighter, I mean.  Shit, I never
knew a Valk could HURT.  I'll sure be more careful next time I fly one."
There was a tone of bitterness present in her voice.
   "Um ... s-sure."  Danilia got back up out of the cockpit and dropped
to the ground.  "Okay, I'm going to hook a winch around your nose and
lever it up some so I can get at that mangled landing gear," she
explained as she moved toward the controls.  There was no response from
Katie, but then, she hadn't really expected any.
   Dani cautiously worked the winch, bringing it over the fighter.  Once
it was in position, she slowly lowered the hook, being careful not to
bang it against the Constellation's hull.
   "Hi, Dani!"
   Danilia squealed and nearly jumped a foot in the air at Nadia's
greeting.  She'd been concentrating so intently, both on her current
task and on Temper's condition, that she hadn't even noticed the dark-
skinned engineer's arrival.  She turned to face her.  "Na ... N ...
Nadia..."
   Sheesh, talk about jumpy.  Wonder what's eating her?  "I just came up
from Engineering to see what you were up to," Nadia said with a smile.
   Danilia tried to calm herself, meeting with limited success.  "I ...
uh, I'm just fixing Tem -- er, the Constellation, here..."  You promised
to keep her secret, she reminded herself.  Better watch that.
   "Would you like a hand?"
   "Uh ... sure."  Dani pointed to the dangling winch line as she spoke.
"Hook the winch around the nose there for me, will you?  We're going to
replace the nose gear first..."

44 ---------- Life Sure Sucks Lately

   Chris stirred lightly as his mind once again began to engage the Here
And Now.  His eyes pried themselves open, and he looked around the room.
He began to panic.  What?  Where--
   The panic subsided as quickly as it had come.  I'm in a bed.  I'm in
a medical bed.  Moving my head doesn't hurt anymore.  That's nice.  Was
it all a dream?  No, no ... this definitely isn't my quarters, and it's
definitely a WDF medical room.  No one else could have this tech level.
   He sighed.  So, I really did make it back to UP.  If that's so ...
where the hell IS everybody?
   As if to answer his question, his ears tapped him on the shoulder and
politely pointed out the sound of footsteps in the hallway.  There was
also some chatter, with several voices involved -- a small crowd was
coming by.  A silhouette entered his field of view.
   "Well, well, Sleepin' Beauty finally came around," Martin said.
"Couldn't just wait for us to get back, could'ja?"  He walked forward,
with a few others close on his heels.
   Chris watched the people entering the room.  It was a fairly small
group, mostly of familiar faces.  Eiko entered directly behind Martin,
and they stood to Chris's right.  Tom and Danilia came immediately
after, and waited at his left.  Martin, Eiko and Tom wore looks of
relief; Dani's face, however, was still rather troubled.
   An unfamiliar Salusian moved momentarily in front of Tom and Dani,
looked at the bed's readouts, and nodded, apparently satisfied with what
they told him.  He moved back, and Chris's attention was drawn by the
last visitor, a very familiar girl with short, auburn hair and large,
brown eyes.
   Noriko smiled at him and mouthed a "hi Chris".
   Chris's gaze went from Noriko to Eiko.  Martin, my friend, I do not
envy you one bit.
   Unknown to everyone present, there was another set of eyes in the
room; those of Katie Tanner, who was using the Constellation's netlink
to tap into Utopia Planitia's security camera network.
   Martin broke the silence first.  "So, Mako ... I take it you had a
fun trip."
   Chris looked up at his longtime cohort, not really in the mood for
any sort of levity.  "Hammer, tell me ... have you ever had one of those
lives?"
   Martin looked at Eiko, who returned his unspoken sentiment.  "Not
until recently," he replied quietly.
   Chris snorted.  "Yeah ... same here."  Another long, dejected silence
fell over the group.
   Eiko wished Katie were there to help Chris through this, but could
predict, given his state of mind and its probable cause, how unlikely
that was to happen.  She clenched a tight fist.  One of these days,
Largo ... one of these days.
   Chris looked back into Martin's face.  "Well, now that we know
everyone's having a bad day ... when does the counterattack start?"
   Martin looked away.  "It doesn't."
   Chris blinked.  "Ex-CUSE me?  Didn't we come back here to circle the
wagons?"
   "We're out of wagons.  And homesteaders, for that matter."
   Chris narrowed his eyes at Martin.  "Just what are you trying to
say?"
   Martin sighed.  That familiar knot in his gut was forming again.
"You want it spelled out?  Okay, fine."  Putting a hand on the head of
Chris's bed, he leaned down and fixed a stare directly at him.  "We're
alone."

   Blaster paused from his cleanup in the docking bay, looking in the
direction of the Constellation.  He was certain he'd heard a sharp gasp.
After a moment's pause, he decided it must have been a freak air
current, and resumed his labor.

   "What?"
   "What, 'what'?  What part of that was unclear?  Except for the four
survivors of the Righteous Indignation, five of the Clay Pigeons,
Blaster and yourself, there is NO ONE HERE."
   Chris stared in disbelief, then shook his head.  "No, no, that's not
possible.  UP is the busiest starbase in the known galaxy."
   "WAS the busiest."
   "Hammer, if this is some kind of joke--"
   Martin pounded a fist against the wall, tearing a non-functional
chunk out of the bed in the process.  "Look around you, man!  Look at
us!"  Chris did so.  He discovered exactly what he'd feared -- nobody
was laughing.
   After making his visual rounds, he returned his amazed eyes to
Martin.  "But ... but how..."
   Martin stood upright, gesturing with the piece of bed.  "That, to
abuse a cliche, is a long story.  I happen to have a little video
documentary that can explain it a bit better than I.  If you promise to
stay put, I'll fetch it."  Separating himself from Eiko, he walked to
the door, turning back just as he was about to leave.  "Oh, one more
thing before I forget."
   "Yeah?"
   "Welcome home."
   Once Martin was gone, Korren looked back at where he'd been.  "He's
so melodramatic."
   Chris extended a hand toward the Salusian.  "I'm sorry, I don't
believe we've met," he opened hesitantly, looking for some way to avoid
thinking about what the abandonment of UP could mean.
   Korren accepted the hand.  "You're right, we haven't.  But maybe if
we believe hard enough--"
   "Korren..."  Noriko's voice grated at her irreverent colleague.
   He held up his furred hands in a gesture of surrender.  "Okay, okay,
if you can't take a joke, just say so.  Sheesh..."
   Noriko shifted her gaze back to Chris.  "You'll have to excuse
Korren.  He may be an incurable smart aleck, but he's also a fine
medtech."
   "It's okay, Noriko."
   "Well, I don't know about you guys," Eiko said, "but I'm not exactly
chomping at the bit to see the Sonset video again."  With nods and
mumbles of assent, everyone wished Chris a quick recovery, and he was
soon alone with his thoughts.
   This lasted less than a minute, as Danilia soon returned, by herself.
Chris could see her looking about skittishly, checking to make sure she
was actually alone.
   "Hi, Da--"
   She put a finger over her lips, and he quieted.  Leaning close to him
and taking his hands, she started to speak.  Her voice faltered and
fumbled, however, and her eyes fell to his hands.
   "Dani?"
   She looked back up at him, determined to say something this time.
She'd promised to keep it a secret, but surely she would want HIM to
know.  "Mako ... I saw ... she was ... the Constellation ... it's..."
Her voice continued to stammer, but at least she was making sound this
time.
   Chris's heart began to sink as Dani continued to fish for words.
He'd been trying to forget about it, to somehow keep his feelings of
guilt locked inside him, but as Danilia spoke, he found his thoughts
drawn back to...
   "...T-Temper..."
   His hands began to shake.  Dani could see water forming in his eyes.
"...oh god..." he moaned softly, his voice breaking from strain,
"...it's all my fault ... oh god ... I should have BEEN there!"
   The sudden, choking shout frightened Danilia.  She gasped sharply,
fairly leaping backward and away from Chris.  Her feet crossed each
other, and she lost her balance, catching herself on the edge of the bed
before she landed.
   Chris sat quietly after his sudden outburst, his hands over his face,
crying softly.  After a moment, he made an effort to pull himself
together.  He controlled his breathing with an effort, and wiped his
eyes on the sheet.  "I'm sorry," he said.  "I didn't mean to..."  He
sighed, and looked down at the wet spot on the sheet.
   Danilia followed his gaze downward.  A few comments about bed-wetting
came to mind -- Martin's bad influence on her, she decided -- but she
knew better than to try them.  Pulling herself back to her feet, she
stepped forward, gently wrapping her arms around what she could reach of
him and hushing him.  "It's okay," she whispered.  "She's still alive.
It'll all be okay."
   Chris continued looking down.  "I only wish I could believe that," he
half-whispered.
   At that point, Martin re-entered the room, holding a disc with his
index finger through the hole in its center.  He glanced from Danilia,
who looked back at him, to Chris, who did not, and then down to the damp
spot on the bed.
   Speechlessly, he walked over to a small monitor, turned it so Chris
could see it, and placed the disc in the player underneath it.  The
player's door merrily accepted his offering.  Further proof that
machines are emotionless by nature, Martin mused; if this device had any
feelings at all, it'd spit the damnable thing onto the floor.
   "This," he opened, "should prove to be a most unpleasant viewing
experience for you.  I know it was for me."
   Danilia didn't really want to see it again, but she also didn't want
to leave Chris to watch it by himself.  Oh, well, she said to herself,
there are worse things to have to sit through.  Rocky Horror Picture
Show comes to mind.
   Chris directed his vision at the screen.  Katie did likewise, by
opening a direct link to the player.
   Martin used the time the system spent starting up to walk to the
door.  With a final turn at the threshold, he told Chris, in his best
Marvin voice, "You won't enjoy it."
   With that, he stepped into the hallway, took five paces down the
hall, stopped, and waited.

   As Chris watched and listened, his spirits sank.  This HAD to be some
kind of a hoax ... didn't it?  But no ... Chris knew ReRob, Gryphon, and
MegaZone all too well -- the way they acted, the quirks of their
personalities ... in short, what buttons to push.  And apparently, so
had whoever had engineered this little breakup.
   That was the key ... if only they could SEE it ... but they wouldn't,
Chris knew it.  It would be a waste of time to point it out, because
they were too deeply involved in the problem.  Or, more precisely, they
WERE the problem.  It was almost like a game of pool, he reflected; hit
the cue in the right place, and everything scatters.  The balls go
everywhere, and the instigator -- the cue ball -- is just one small
piece in the whole mess.
   And the thing that made Chris sure of this was the one thing that he
simply could not believe, that he would not EVER believe -- that Gryphon
would ever go around shooting little kids.  Even if he saw that with his
own eyes.

   Katie viewed the entire ordeal with a growing sense of shock and
horror that threatened to overwhelm her.  It couldn't be so, it just
COULDN'T!
   She had come here, with Chris unconscious in the cockpit, because she
had believed that everyone would regroup here, that here would be the
wherewithal to rebuild the WDF, to heal Chris, to grow her a new body in
a regen tank.  The first blow had been tapping into Bombsight's security
systems and finding only a handful of survivors in the space station.
The crew of biotechs she had been hoping to find was nowhere in sight.
   And now she was faced with this ghastly record that chronicled the
final break-up of the Wedge Rats ... everyone leaving ... the SDF-17
going down ... it was more than she could take!

   As the playback ended, Chris just stared at the blank screen.
Martin, recognizing the stunned silence that always accompanied the end
of this particular documentary, walked back in and turned the screen
off, retrieving the disc from the player.  "And that, I suppose, is
that," he said.  "I--"
   The sentence went unfinished as Blaster's voice intervened through
the intercom.  "Hey, Hammer."
   Martin blinked, then replied.  "Yo, Blaster.  What's up?"
   "Somethin' strange, man.  Mako's Valk just took off on its own.  It's
headin' for the asteroid belt at top speed!"
   "Say what?"
   Chris sat bolt upright.  "Fuck!"  This outburst startled Martin, who
very rarely heard Chris swear like that when anyone else was within
earshot (he'd once said it was out of some inane fear that his parents
might hear about it somehow), except in the most critical of situations.
"Get me a jack connection!  NOW, dammit!"  His eyes darted around in a
frenzy.
   "Uh, Chris?" Martin began.
   "There's no fucking TIME!" Chris yelled.  "Temper's life is at
stake!"  He turned to Danilia, speaking in rushed syllables.  "You-know-
what-I'm-talking-about-so-HELP-me-for-God's-sake!"
   Dani nodded and began pulling open drawers, haphazardly tossing their
contents onto the floor.  The gears in Martin's head began to turn,
working to determine just what Chris was trying to accomplish.
   "Fuckin'..."  Chris muttered, levering himself up out of the bed.  He
reached over to the diagnostic unit by the bedside, tearing it from the
wall and letting it drop to the floor.
   "I found one!" Dani shouted.  Her hand dove into the drawer she'd
just opened, and, with a rapid motion, she threw a cyberlink cable to
Chris.  He snatched it in mid-air, plugged one end into the jack on the
inside of his right wrist, and slid the other into the slot in the wall
where the medical equipment had connected.  He closed his eyes, his body
relaxed ... and he was in the Matrix.
   Martin had less than half of an idea what was going on, but enough to
act upon.  "Blaster!" he shouted at the ceiling.  "Make sure we have a
data link to the Constellation!"
   Wasting no time, Chris found the uplink to the subspace relays, and
thanking his lucky stars for installing subspace comm gear in the
Constellation, was through them immediately.
   "The subspace link's already active!" the Autobot replied.
   Martin turned to Danilia.  "Temper?  She's on board the
Constellation?"
   Danilia averted her eyes from his and said sheepishly, "Um ... in a
manner of speaking..."  She stole a glance at the supine Mako.

   Chris was in the Constellation's uplink node now, and a simple
algorithmic code opened the data gate for him to enter.  Once more, he
found himself speaking mind-to-mind with Katie Tanner.
   *Katie, what the hell are you DOING?!* Chris "said" (though, in
reality, speech tends to lose its meaning somewhat in cybertelepathic
communication).
   *I'm ENDING it!*  Her thoughts were frenzied and half-crazed.  *I'm
going to find a big rock and smash this plane into it!*
   *Katie, don't do that.*  He adjusted his virtual position, and soon
found himself seeing through her "eyes" and feeling her presence along
with him in the Valkyrie's computer.
   *Listen to me.  It's not worth it.*  Chris mentally winced as a large
asteroid hurtled by at high speed.  *Dammit Katie, you mean a LOT to
me.*
   *Prove it!*
   *How?  How the hell am I supposed to do that?*
   *Get me out of this damned machine!*
   *How?!*
   *I don't know!  I don't CARE!  I can't live like this!*  He felt a
peculiar sensation, as if she was weeping.  *I WON'T live like this!*
   Chris wanted to tell her that it wouldn't be so bad, that they would
still be together ... but found himself wanting to put his arms around
her and hold her close, and knew he didn't believe that any more than
she would.
   *All right, Katie.  I'll try, I promise you that.  I'll help you, I
swear to GOD I will.  Now come back to U.P.!  PLEASE!*
   Chris felt the Constellation slow, then watched as it turned, heading
back for UP at a safer, saner speed.  He sighed with relief.  He could
have used his override codes to bring the plane back against her will,
but it might have caused her to go even deeper into her shell.  This
way, there was actually some hope.

   Chris removed the jack from his wrist and collapsed back onto
the bed.  "Did it..." he mumble-sighed before falling unconscious again.
Danilia had already picked the monitoring equipment up off the floor,
and found no visible damage.  Now that Chris was off-line, she pulled
his cable from the wall and plugged the diagnostic unit back in,
automatically invoking its self-test mode.
   Martin turned to face Mako just in time to see him drop out of
reality once more.  It may have been rude to turn his back to him in the
first place, but he hated watching people jacking into little cyberspace
excursions, letting their minds run away from their bodies on a tether
even more fragile than life itself.  For a band of immortals, he would
groan to himself, these people sure are in a hurry to get killed.
   He immediately saw that the answers to his questions would have to be
acquired elsewhere.  With a quiet nod to (and from) Danilia, he left the
room, leaving her to her bedside vigil.

45 ---------- The Man Machine Club

   The Constellation was landing just as Martin arrived, without the
ungraceful bounce and teeter of its previous touchdown.  He noticed that
the landing gear was completely repaired, as well as all the battle
damage to the Valk's hull.  Everyone else had retired for the evening,
which suited him just fine -- he wanted to confront Temper alone about
this little tantrum.
   Returning to his human form, wearing blue jeans and a sweater bearing
a large Autobot/WDF insignia on the front -- a testament to his defeat
of Devastator in 2026, and worn by all Autobots who were on Cybertron at
the time -- he strode forward, taking deep, regular breaths to bring his
own ire under control.  A lot was happening with Chris and Kate, and he
wasn't really understanding any of it, but blowing up at Katie wasn't
going to help, either.
   He was beside the still-closed cockpit when the plane had come to a
full stop.  He looked up at the canopy, stifled his initial desire to
bark "Explain yourself, Temper!" and, instead, called, "You can come out
now, Katie."
   "I only wish," Katie's voice echoed from Constellation's external
speakers.
   Martin blinked.  What is THAT supposed to mean?  With a twitch of his
ankle, he launched himself into the air, landing easily on top of the
transparent blister.  He looked down, expecting to see Katie in the
pilot's seat.  All he found was Chris's CVR helmet, secured to the
headrest.
   "Where are you?" he asked, looking around and craning his neck into
odd contortions to see if she was hiding under the instrument panel.
   "I'm right here, Hammer," Katie's voice announced with an ironic
twist.
   "Define 'here'--" he began.  Abruptly, as if with the blow of a
sledgehammer, everything fell into place.  "Oh, no," he groaned,
dropping to his knees.  "Oh, please..."
   "That's right, Hammer," Katie said, her voice dripping with irony.
"You're not alone any more."
   "Katie..."  Martin slumped forward, running a hand along the smooth
surface beneath him.  Just when he was sure things couldn't get any
worse...
   The canopy started to rise, and he slid backward on its smooth
surface, regaining his footing when he'd reached the fuselage behind it.
"Yeah, back in Eight-Ball they told me I treated my Valk like it was a
part of me," Katie noted bitterly.  "Now it is."
   With a hop, Martin was over the canopy, landing easily in the
acceleration couch and leaning forward to avoid knocking his skull
against Chris's helmet.  He knew she needed someone to talk to in
private, and this was as good a place as any.  "Talk to me, Kate."
   As the canopy slid shut, Katie's face appeared on the center comm
screen.  She was in a virtual representation of her WDF uniform.  "It
was several days ago ... we were on a mission to take out some
terrorists who were laying waste to a Salusian research base..."
   She recounted going off on her own, looking for these terrorists that
weren't there when they landed.  Kei and Yuri had gone in different
directions as well, and Chris had been flying recon.
   "Then they all attacked at once.  There must have been twenty or
thirty of them ... I fought as well as I could, got half of them, but
went over a cliff.  I broke my fall enough to survive, and then the last
thing I saw was this huge Buma standing over me, and the metal tentacles
reaching for me..."
   Then the next few days had been somewhat hazy, and she'd only come to
once more when she found herself lying, unable to move, on an operating
table.  "I was a Buma ... I'd shot someone, and tried to kill pfloyd ...
then the whole ship started shaking, and Edison was removing my brain
from the defunct Buma body, and then, when I woke up..."
   On the screen, Katie shook her head.  "Here I am in this robot body,
and I couldn't even explain exactly how it happened."
   Martin nodded.  "That sounds vaguely familiar," he commiserated.
   Katie sniffed, or rather, her image did.  "At least YOU'RE still part
HUMAN.  All I can change to is a 40-foot-tall robot."
   Martin let his breath hiss through his nose as he averted his eyes
from her angry face.  She was right, of course -- having a human form
was a definite plus to his sanity.
   He remembered how he felt, that first day, returning to his assembled
friends on the Wayward Son ... he'd put on a flustered facade to
disguise how their looks of shock and fear hurt him.
   Then Noriko.  Oh, how it cut through his soul to see her backing away
from him in stark terror.  Not being able to hold her as she cried
repentantly hurt even more.
   Then Eiko.  Every time, the response was the same.  Every time, he
shrugged it off.  After all, they couldn't know how much it stung,
right?
   Right.
   "How am I going to LIVE like this?" Katie cried, frustrated by his
silence.  "Look at me -- a robot, a Valkyrie.  All I am is a goddamned
brain in a goddamned box."
   He looked back toward her and reached forward, touching his hand to
the nav/comm screen.  "Katie..." he half-whispered.
   "Yes?" she asked, her own image reaching back to touch the screen
where his finger was.  He traced an arc across it; she matched his
gesture, as if they were merely separated by a pane of glass, rather
than a plane of reality.
   Viewing, but not truly seeing; hearing, but barely listening;
touching, but never feeling.  Martin had always thought of the time in
his Rotofoil forms as brief glimpses into Hell.
   "We'll never give up on you, Kate.  We'll find a way ... we'll get
you out of this."
   "Yeah, that makes me feel a LOT better," Katie muttered.  Then,
seeing the stricken look on Martin's face, she relented.  "Oh, hell ...
maybe this won't be all bad.  At least I won't have to worry about Mako
every time he takes off in that damned Valkyrie of his.  I AM that
damned Valkyrie of his..."  She trailed off.
   "Just don't try anything like that again ... I've never seen Chris so
scared before."
   Katie sniffed.  "Probably afraid of losing his precious
Constellation."  She wasn't TOTALLY serious, but...
   Martin snapped his fingers, appearing suddenly inspired.  "Look at
me, Kate."  Her image faced him again.  "'Before you can excel, you must
first accept.'  Y'know who told me that?"
   Her image glanced up at him, curiosity piqued.  "Who?"
   "Optimus Prime.  It was his advice to me after they pieced me
together."
   She looked at him incredulously.  "You're telling me to get used to
... to THIS?"  She threw her arms out wildly, indicating his
surroundings.
   "Not just that.  Get COMFORTABLE with it.  Learn to use it.  Learn
its strengths, its weaknesses, its limitations and abilities.  If you're
going to be a Valkyrie, be the best damned Valkyrie you can."  He
grinned.  "Otherwise, you'll be a REAL clay pigeon."
   "But I don't want to be a--" she began; then, she stopped, as the
implications of his words sank in.  She continued to stare at him.
"You're serious, aren't you?"
   "Never more so.  Katie, this is more than just advice -- this is
experience."  He lowered his voice, leaning close to her image.  "Do you
know how many beds I demolished by transforming in my sleep?"
   She blinked at him as if he'd just confessed to bedwetting.  "I ...
you never told--"
   "Of course not.  I never told anyone -- it was so humiliating.  Back
then, Katie, I was as close as I've ever been to just giving up.  I was
certain I'd never gain control of my own body.  It took me over a year
to figure out my problem."
   Katie had a sneaking suspicion where he was going with this.  "You
hadn't accepted your change."
   Martin nodded, smiling.  "It was so unreal to me.  I'm still not 100%
sure how it works, but I just know it does.  Don't get me wrong, there
are still times I wish I was just a normal guy again."
   Katie smiled back at him.  "You'd be long dead by now -- just a name
people learn about in Cybertronian history classes."
   "True enough.  You see where I'm going, right?"
   Her image nodded quietly with a sigh.  "It won't be any easier,
though."
   "Of course not.  It never is -- it was another ten years after making
MY little discovery when I finally completely stopped.  But if you just
pine away for the way you were, it'll drive you to drink."
   "Not a bad idea.  You know where I can get intoxicants for a
Valkyrie?"
   Martin smirked.  "Another of the hidden downsides of being eternally
young -- three hundred years old, and you still get carded."
   Katie stifled a laugh, and the canopy began to open.  "Well, I
suppose I'll let you go now.  I'm glad you could spare the time to talk
to me."
   "No problemo, Temper.  It never hurts to help."  He pushed himself
upright.
   "Um ... Marty?"
   He looked back at her abruptly.  It was the first time he'd heard her
call him by his given name; the number of people who did so could be
counted on two hands.  "Hm?"
   "Thanks."
   He kissed his index finger, and gently pressed it to the screen.
Katie's image 'kissed' it back.
   "Never give up, Kate."  He hurdled the edge of the cockpit and hit
the floor running.  After three steps, he went to Rotofoil mode and
headed for his quarters.
   Katie sighed.  She checked the camera in Chris's room; he was still
asleep, and Danilia had left him to his slumber.  Well, I can wait, she
decided, and he's not going anywhere.
   When he wakes up, I'll apologize ... and we can get on with living.

46 ---------- Present Tense

   Chris was unconscious for the next two days.  During that time, he
ran the gamut from comatose to delirious, sometimes crying out in his
sleep.  Katie Tanner kept a watchful eye on him through her link to
Bombsight, and Korren or some other member of the small group of
survivors was nearly always in the room with him.
   Martin, for his part, dropped in only occasionally to see his old
friend.  He'd long since discovered that he didn't take well to seeing
people he cared about in remarkably poor health.  He worked that much
harder with Noriko inside the Righteous Indignation, pushing their
schedule forward until the Clay Pigeons physically removed him from the
ship.
   Martin's peculiar antics -- peculiar for him, anyway -- only served
to underscore the general concern and renewed sense of ill-at-ease that
accompanied Chris's arrival.  Blaster didn't even bother telling him
about the nearly constant netlink he'd noticed between the Constellation
and the security-camera network.  (Martin still hadn't told everyone
what had become of Katie; that secret was hers to reveal, when she
chose.)
   It was just a little more than 48 hours after his collapse that Chris
finally came out of it.  Eiko happened to be on watch at the time, and
she called Martin at about the same time that Katie did.  Martin,
aroused from one of his less successful attempts at sleep in recent
memory, was quite pleased to hear this news item, even if he did end up
hearing it twice.  He was walking into Chris's recovery room within two
minutes.

   "Okay, okay, where's the fire?" Martin mock-grumbled as he walked up
beside Eiko.
   Eiko's answer, whatever it might have been, was precluded by a groan
from the bed.  Chris opened his eyes, blinked, and raised his left hand
to try to shield his vision from the glare of the overhead fluorescent
lights.
   "Unnnngh ... how long have I been out?"
   "About 48 hours," Korren said matter-of-factly, holding a medical
tricorder in his right hand and running the detachable cylindrical probe
over the wounded area.
   "Forty-eight hours ... two days?" Chris asked.  "What-- what about
Katie?"
   "She's all right," Martin said quicikly.  Eiko glanced questioningly
at him, and he replied with an I'll-explain-later look.
   "Oh, thank God..." Chris breathed, closing his eyes and lowering his
hand.  "Two days ... how could it take that long?  I've had worse wounds
and been up in hours ... but never unconscious for two days before..."
   "Extreme stress sometimes causes Detian physiology to work less
efficiently," Korren said, returning the probe to its slot in the end of
the tricorder.  With a disapproving glare, he added, "And so does
overexerting yourself in a weakened condition."  Chris, having closed
his eyes, missed out on the look, but not the tone.
   Korren looked up at Martin.  "Well, despite his best efforts, I'm
afraid he's mostly recovered.  He'd actually have to wound himself to
get any worse at this point.  But he should still take it easy for a day
or so."  He looked down at the fallen pilot.  "I'd recommend strapping
him down."
   Martin nodded.  "I'll put it in serious consideration."  He was glad
Chris could only hear his voice, and not see that he was only a couple
stages away from laughing aloud.
   Eiko readily picked up on the train of thought.  "I could get some
bungee cords and chains from the hangars..."
   Chris chuckled a little in spite of himself.  Then he tensed, and
pushed himself up to a sitting position, grunting slightly with the
effort.  "I think I want to take a walk," he announced, wincing.  He
blinked again, finally adjusting to the light.  "Ouch.  I don't think I
want to do that again..."
   As he swung his legs down, Korren suggested, "You'd probably better
help him up.  He'll be a little weak after being off his feet for two
days."
   "No ... I'm okay," Chris said.
   "I happen to recall someone saying something like that before,"
Martin smirked, going over to assist him.  Chris actually did manage to
get to his feet by himself, though the sounds he made while doing so
were rather unpleasant.
   Martin looked him over.  "Well, congratulations.  Two days
convalescing and you're all set to kill yourself again."
   Chris snorted.  "Spare me."  But Martin could tell he was trying to
conceal a smile, and not doing a very good job.
   "Well, come along, Fido ... time for walkies."  Martin extended a
hand to Korren.  "Thanks for the help.  You can go with Eiko back to the
living area--"
   "NNnnoooo, thanks all the same," the Salusian said abruptly, cutting
him off.  "I think I'll just walk back after I get this thing shut
down."
   Martin shrugged.  "Suit yourself."  He put a hand on Eiko's head,
dropping onto one knee to look her in the eye.  "I'll have to be alone
with Mako for a while, Little One.  Guy talk."
   She nodded sadly.  "It's okay ... I'll see you later."
   The three of them strode into the hallway, Martin and Chris hobbling
in one direction, Eiko streaking off in the other.
   They walked for a while, in silence.  At first Mako tended to
stagger, but then the blood started circulating fully and walking became
easier.
   As they turned a corner, Chris opened, "It's about Katie, isn't it?"
   Martin looked in a different direction as he spoke.  "The ... thought
had occurred, yes."
   Chris looked away.  "Dammit, I don't know what to say.  It was the
only thing I could do, okay?"
   "I understand," Martin said quickly and quietly, catching the
defensive, guilty edge in his friend's voice.  "I understand.  She
explained the circumstances to me, as best she could."  He took a
breath, allowing the statement to sink in for a moment.  "Of course,
there are a few gaps in what she can recall."
   Chris sighed.  "What do you want to know?"
   "Now THERE's a loaded question," Martin mumbled.  These days, the
more he knew about anything, the less he liked it.  Speaking normally,
he continued, "Actually, the details of how it all happened aren't
important to me.  It's the outcome that matters, and that's a little too
apparent.  I suppose what I really want to know is..."
   Martin brought his eyes back, looking directly at Chris.  "...from
what you can tell ... how well has she been dealing with this?"
   "You're asking me?"  They turned a corner and the corridor ended in a
small observation platform, looking out over the planet below them.
"I'm the one who's been unconscious for the last week or so..."
   "You're also closer to her.  I can only tell so much; I'd like to
hear your opinion."
   Chris sighed.  "I didn't get to see much of her reaction ... I only
talked to her a little bit before the TIE fighter shot me up and I went
under.  But judging from her panic attack two days ago, I think she's
having some trouble dealing."
   He leaned back against the couch, closing his eyes.  "But I will tell
you this.  I don't think she REALLY meant to kill herself, whether she
knew it or not.  She could have crashed into the station, or the planet
in that event ... they're closer."
   Martin continued pacing forward, stopping when he could rest his hand
on the viewing window before them.  "I talked to her for a while after
that.  She really has a poor opinion of the situation.  I tried to think
of something I could say to help.  She may never believe it, but ... I
think I have a fair idea of how she feels."
   Chris looked at Martin, then out at the stars, and then down at his
feet.  "Yeah ... I think you just might."
   He looked out at space again.  "Dammit ... why did it have to happen
JUST NOW, of all times?  It's just what I need ... another load on my
mind."
   Martin continued staring outward.  Snafu Equation number 6, he
recalled:  Badness Comes In Waves.
   Chris looked into the studded darkness.  "And the funny thing is, I
don't know what made me do it.  I saw the neural plug, noticed that it
was the same size as the neural-net adaptor on the Constellation's main
computer, and plugged it in."  He glanced back at Martin, then down at
his feet again.  "Katie said ... she said that I'd always wanted a
Machine Intelligence in the Constellation, and she just happened to be
handy."
   He smiled ironically.  "And the scary thing is, she might be right.
I don't know my own subconscious mind.  It's very possible that some
part of me I'm not aware of had exactly those thoughts, and that's why I
did it."
   Martin turned around to face him.  "So, what are you saying?"  Chris
faced him, unsure what to make of the statement.  "Are you saying you
should have left her unplugged, just carrying her with you in the
cockpit?  In which case, I should point out, neither of you would be
here now."
   "That's what I keep trying to tell myself, but ... dammitall, I feel
so responsible!  I should have been there, with her, when it happened.
Maybe I could have saved her.  Or maybe not.  But dammit, look at me.  I
can't even trust myself now."
   Martin sighed, leaning back and thumping his head against the window.
"You're your own worst enemy, man."
   Chris tried to think of a response to that, but couldn't find the
words.  He just looked down at the floor again.  "What am I gonna do,
Hammer?  I just--"  He trailed off.
   Martin shook his head slowly, and walked over to stand beside where
Chris was sitting.  "You are going to live," he said quietly.  "You are
going to help her live.  You are going to stop trying to second-guess
everything you've done up to this point.  Because until those things
start happening -- and you're the only one that can make them happen --
the suckitude of both your and her lives can only go up."  Okay, so my
bedside manner leaves something to be desired, he groused to himself.
   "What things?" Chris asked, wondering if he'd been too busy looking
at his feet and missed some important word or phrase.
   Martin let his breath hiss through his nose in frustration.  "Nothing
like trying to counsel a brick wall," he muttered.  He felt something
tugging at his eyelids.  His body, at long last, had decided it was
tired enough to sleep, and, in purely typical fashion, had chosen a poor
time to do so.
   He started walking.  "When you're finished sulking and ready to start
using present-tense verb forms more often, I'm sure she'd appreciate a
visit.  I'm sorry I couldn't be more help ... I'm afraid I'm a little
short on answers to Life's Burning Questions this evening.  I can't even
remember why hot dogs come in packages of ten, and hot dog buns in
packages of eight..."
   Chris got to his feet again.  "There's nothing I can do about it, so
I might as well start learning to live with it, is that what you're
saying?"  Without waiting for an answer, he continued.  "Well, you're
right, and I know it.  I'm going to go down there right now and see her.
Apologize once more, and see if we can't work something out."  He walked
around the benches, supporting himself with his hand on the backs of
them.  "Would you like to tell me in which direction lies the landing
bay?"
   Martin regarded the passageways meaningfully.  "Yes, I would like to
tell you that ... if I can figure out the directions at walking speed.
I usually run these hallways at 50mps."  He looked back with a smile.
"She needs you."
   "Yeah, and I need her, too."  Chris looked contemplatively at the
ceiling.  "Odd how you can know someone for 300 years and never know how
much she means to you until..."  He didn't complete the sentence.
   "Hey, can't you read the sign?"  Martin interrupted the unfinished
thought.  "It says, 'No Fatalism'.  She's not dead, and she's not going
to die; at least, not right now.  Come on, I'm 87% sure it's thisaway."
   "Uh, okay."  They started walking again, side by side.  "Remind me to
get my Cyclone out of storage ... if we're going to be here a while, I
think I'm gonna need it."
   Martin nodded.  "Say, Mako, don't forget to take your Cyclone out of
storage."
   Chris groaned and took a swing at him.  He missed, of course.

47 ---------- Tutor

   Chris soon found himself alone in the launch bay with Katie Tanner.
Martin had fallen asleep on one of the couches along the way, and Chris
had called Eiko.  She said she'd be there shortly to "pick Martin up,"
and, knowing her, he was pretty sure she'd do exactly that.  So he
continued on toward the bay, leaving Martin behind.
   A half-hour or so later, he was strolling into the very place, and
there she was, sitting alone at the side of the bay.
   "Katie?"  Chris walked over to the Constellation's fuselage.  "I'm up
and about again."
   The canopy opened.  "Come on in."
   About half a dozen tasteless lines ran through Chris's mind, but he
shoved them aside and ascended the ladder into the cockpit.  "Okay, I'm
here."  He sat down in the acceleration couch and leaned forward.
   Katie Tanner's face appeared in the center multi-function display.
"I want to apologize for that stunt I pulled the other day," Katie said,
her image not meeting Chris's gaze.  "I acted like a complete and utter
idiot, and put you in a coma for two days."
   "No, you didn't," Chris said.  "You weren't to blame.  You were
scared, overstressed, and confused.  You'd been thrust into a situation
that you weren't prepared to deal with, and you went a little frantic.
It happens."
   "But I feel so guilty for what it DID to you," Katie protested.
   "Ah, well, welcome to the club.  I'm still feeling guilty for --
this."  He waved an arm around, encompassing the cockpit.  "It's all my
fault.  I should have been there.  And I should at least have asked you
before hooking you up to this machine."
   The perspective on Katie in the viewscreen zoomed back to a medium
shot of her standing with her hands on her hips.  "That's ridiculous.
Firstly, there was nothing you could have done -- I'M to blame, if
anyone is, for being stupid enough to let them catch me unawares.  I
consider myself pretty damn lucky to still be alive.  That Buma could
have sliced and diced my brain instead of just stealing it, and THEN
where would I be?"
   Chris opened his mouth to try to respond, but Katie cut him off.
"And there was no way in hell you could have asked me, anyway.  You
should KNOW better than to take what I said about your motives earlier
at face value.  As you said, I was scared, overstressed and confused.
I'm likely to say the first thing that comes to my mind and to hell with
the consequences, you know that."
   "I -- it's just that I ... well..."  Chris shook his head.  "Still, I
can't help feeling guilty about it.  Dammit, Katie, I love you.  I
didn't know that myself until only recently, but you seem to have known
the other way around for a long time.  When something hurts you, it
hurts me too.
   "And this is a hurt that I was at least partly responsible for
inflicting, and that's the worst thing of all.  I know it's irrational,
but that's just the way I am.  So this thing is going to be in my head
for a while, nagging at me like the homework I know I should do but keep
putting off, and there's just nothing I can do about it."
   They were both silent for a long, long time.  Chris heard a clanking
sound and looked up to see Blaster coming across the bay.  Katie opened
the canopy.  "Hey, Blaster!" Chris called out.
   "Yo, Mako!"  Blaster walked over to the Valkyrie.  "What's up?"
   Chris glanced at the comm screen.  "This might be a good time to
introduce yourself."
   "Are you sure I should?" Katie asked, her ventral optics swivelling
around to rest on Blaster.
   "You're gonna have to sooner or later," Chris said.  "We can't keep
what happened to you a secret forever.  Nor, I would think, would you
want to.  Go on, talk to him.  He doesn't bite."
   Blaster watched Chris apparently having a conversation with the
dashboard of his Valkyrie, and wondered if he was missing something.
Then he remembered the odd computer taps from the Valkyrie, and put two
and two together.  "Hey, Mako, you finally got a CI for the
Constellation?"
   "Of a sort," Katie announced over the external speakers.  "Hi, I'm
Katie Tanner.  You can call me Temper."
   "Temper?  But aren't you Chris's wingmate or girlfriend or
something?"
   Chris blushed.  "I was," Katie said.  "But I had a little ...
accident."
   "Accident?  Do tell," Blaster said, kneeling beside the Veritech.
   "She lost her body, and I had to put her brain in this one," Chris
explained.
   "Whoa, that's rough.  So, I guess you're a Transformer now, huh?"
   "Well ... sort of," she replied sheepishly.
   "There are some Cybertronian parts in the Constellation -- I spent a
lot of time learning the tech," Chris said.  "Nothing all that fancy,
though."
   "Hey, how 'bout you stand up so we can talk?"
   "I -- er..." Katie began.  Chris kept waiting for her to close the
canopy and go to Battloid mode, and then he realized that she hadn't
done any mode-switching since being placed in her new body.  Not that he
was aware of, at least.
   "I don't know if she can," Chris said.  "I don't think she's ever
done it from the inside."
   "No?  It's real simple," Blaster replied.  "Just concentrate a
little, see the change in your head, 'n' let'cher body follow through.
That's all there is to it."
   "Uh, okay ... I'm trying now."  Katie's face blinked out of the comm
panel.  The canopy closed ... but nothing happened.  "It's no use!" she
said.  "I can't feel it ... dammit, I know what's wrong.  It's not like
I'm rigging it.  I can't find a reference ... without a human body, I
can't map the Valk's arms and legs to my own."
   "Katie ... I can help you," Chris said.  "Let me jack in and make the
transformation for you.  That'll show you how to do it, and you can take
it from there."
   Katie made her decision.  "Do it."
   "Jacking in..."  Chris connected a fiber-optic cable to his
wristjacks, and plugged it into the console.  Instantly, he and Katie
were in telepathic contact.
   *Ready, Katie?*
   *I'm ready.*
   *Transformation commences...*  And then it happened.  With the
traditional Cybertronian harmonics, the Hyper Valkyrie buzzed and
clicked and whirred and crunched through Gerwalk mode into Battloid.
   *Thanks, Chris!  I think I've got it now.*
   *Least I could do.  Jacking out...*
   Blaster quietly looked the Constellation over.  Not bad, he decided.
Not bad at all.
   "Excuse me," Chris announced, as the Valk head flipped forward and
Chris's seat rose out of its torso.  Blaster found that most
disconcerting.
   "Hey, Katie, how about a lift down?" Chris asked, stepping onto her
shoulder as the seat and head retracted back into place.
   "Uh, sure, Mako..."
   "Thanks."  She raised a hand to her shoulder.  Chris stepped onto it,
and she lowered him to the deck.  "Hey, listen, I'm gonna go over to the
Righteous Indignation and see if I can be of some assistance.  Think
they could use a Planitia/Cybertron-trained design engineer?"
   "Probably," Katie said.  "We know where to find you."
   "Right."  Chris waved, then turned and ran over toward the ship, over
at the other side of the docking bay.  I hope those two hit it off, he
thought.  Katie could use a friend her size.
   Blaster considered the Battloid-mode Valkyrie before him.  He tried
to imagine what it would be like to be soft flesh and bone one day, and
rigid metal the next.  He couldn't, for the life of him.  Instead, he
decided to ask.  If she could describe it for him, perhaps it would help
her deal with it herself.  He took a step forward as he opened.  "So ...
this is pretty heavy stuff that's happened to ya.  How ya dealin' with
it?"
   Katie was silent for a long time.  At last, she looked down.  Blaster
wished she had a more expressive face.  Or any kind of a face at all,
for that matter.  "It -- it's kind of hard," she said.  "The only person
who really understands is Hammer ... but how well can even he know what
-- what THIS is like?  He still has his human form, after all.  No
matter how hard it is for him, at least he still has THAT."  Careful,
she told herself.  You're getting dangerously close to self-pity again.
   Blaster nodded solemnly.  "Hammer's always been an oddball, long as
I've known'im.  You remember how he was when he came back to the Son
after he was first rebuilt?"
   Katie carefully maneuvered herself to a sitting position, resting
against the bay wall.  "Yeah ... I think so.  Who can forget it?  He
came back six inches taller, young, and without glasses."  She stopped,
knowing that wasn't what Blaster meant.  "But yeah, he did seem kind
of..."  She trailed off, not sure what word she was looking for.
   Blaster moved alongside her as she moved, watching her movements
carefully.  "It was some time after that when I joined up with the
Autobot force on the Son.  He seemed as carefree as ever ... even from
the short time I'd worked with'im on the Devastator project, I could
tell that he really didn't worry 'bout much of anything.  Oh, he knew a
heavy situation when he was in one, but he never let it get'im down."
He sat beside her, much more gracefully than she had a moment before.
"I was sure he could deal with anything ... nothing was too strange
for'im ... until I asked'im how he liked being his Rotofoil.
   "He never answered that question.  But I could tell ... from the way
he wouldn't even look me in the eye.  I could tell."
   Blaster shook his head.  "I can only guess at what kept'im goin'.
Maybe 'cause ... he thought he owed it t'everyone else.  I guess I'll
never know."
   Katie glanced over at Blaster, then down at the floor.  "I guess -- I
guess you never think about how hard such a thing is until you go through
it yourself."  She sighed.  "Dammit, I want my own body back!  But there
doesn't seem to be a ready way out of this for me right now.  I guess
I'm just going to have to adapt."  She nodded, wishing she had a jaw she
could set in firm resolve.  "I've got to learn to live with it."
   Blaster stood, and offered his hand to her.  "Well, y'gotta walk
before you can fly.  So let's see if y'can walk."
   Katie reached out unsteadily and grasped his hand.  "All right ...
I'll try."  She shook her head and he helped her up.  "I used to rig my
Valk, but this -- it's similar, but not like it.  It feels ... it feels
like this body is ... ALIVE.  Does that make sense to you?"
   She chuckled.  "Of COURSE it would make sense to YOU.  YOU'RE the
living machine around here."  She stood on her feet.  "Okay, let's try
this.  Damn, wish I had teeth to grit."  She took a step forward ...
then stumbled and nearly fell.
   Blaster was ready, and darted in front of her.  With a quick
cacophony of clanging, Katie soon found herself in his arms, rather than
on the floor.  She made a mental note:  screwing up in this body is also
much LOUDER.
   He smiled at her.  "There, this isn't so bad, is it?"
   For the next couple of moments, Katie just remained in that position.
She felt deprived -- instead of adrenaline and a rapid heartbeat, she
felt an overall increase in power flow to her systems; instead of
panting, her engines' air intakes snapped to their maximum aperture.
The physical responses of this new body were strange and different, and
took some getting used to.
   But her overall position ... well, perhaps it wasn't all that bad.
"Uh ... no ..."
   Now, he positively grinned.  "Glad t'hear it.  C'mon ... as Hammer
says, 'if at first you don't succeed--'"  He pushed her back onto her
own feet, and she regained her balance.  "'--keep on suckin' 'til y'DO
suck seed.'"
   Katie was unsure whether or not to be offended by this remark, but
put it out of her mind as Blaster took a position directly beside her,
with one arm around her back, hand on her waist (or, at least, in the
analogous position), and the other holding her by the hand.  "Okay,
let's try it together," he said.  "If we can get'cha t'walk, this way we
can get'cha t'tango, too."
   Katie giggled in spite of herself.  How is it, she wondered, that
anyone who spends any period of time around Hammer invariably picks up
his sense of humor?
   "All right ... I think I've got it this time.  Let's see ... as the
old Christmas special said, just put one foot in front of the other..."
   Katie Tanner concentrated, putting all of her mental resources into
figuring out that first step.  Then she realized her problem.  She was
trying TOO hard.  She remembered what the instructor in her rigging
class had told her:  don't overthink.  Just let it happen.  And even
though this was somewhat different in principle, the theory should still
apply, right?
   And so Katie took her first few faltering steps in her Battloid mode,
coming to a halt in the middle of the docking bay and managing to retain
her balance (with Blaster's help).  "I did it!  I did it!" she
announced, so thrilled by her success at this that she impulsively threw
her arms around him and hugged him, her head over his left shoulder.  "I
did it!"
   The gesture surprised Blaster for a moment, but he put his arms
around her as well, with a silly grin on his face.  "Yeah, you did,
didn'cha?"  Their embrace loosened, and they looked each other in the
eye.  "Hey, I could get used to this," he added against his better
judgement.
   "You-- Aaaiieee!"  Katie pushed herself out of Blaster's grip, but
lost her balance and began to fall backward.  She flailed her arms
around, and, in an act of new-found reflex, her booster jets fired.
Naturally, they overcorrected for her loss of balance, and she
immediately found herself thrown back into Blaster's eager embrace.
This time, however, the momentum was enough to send them both tumbling
to the floor.
   "I, uh ... think I have a lot to learn..." Katie managed weakly.
   Blaster just smiled back at her.  "I've got the time."

48 ---------- They'll Need a Crane

   "Testing, testing ... there once was a girl from Nantucket ... you
getting this, Riko?"
   "It's on the scope."
   "How about you, Blaster? ... Blaster? ... Blaster Blaster bo Basster
banana-fana-fo Faster fe-fi-mo Master?"
   Noriko giggled.  "I think that's a 'No.'"
   Martin stood up and grunted.  "Well, that's another isolating step.
Move to the next checkpoint and we'll try it again."
   "On it."  She tugged at the leads, and they disconnected from the
panel easily.  Standing upright and stretching her limbs, she wiped the
sweat from her forehead with her palm, then wiped the hand on the hip of
her tight work shorts.  She tucked the back of her loose T-shirt into
her shorts, while the hand was conveniently nearby.
   She looked around herself for an obvious next location to probe.  The
two of them were in a large maintenance room, a central point for many
of the inter-system junctions of the ship, one level above the bridge.
Noriko was currently fishing for a broken communications system link, as
Martin reworked a few diagnostic routines that were corrupted during the
mutiny.
   Unable to find her next target visually, Noriko tapped a key on the
nearby terminal display, consulting an on-line schematic of the system.
"Oh, there it is."  She touched a finger to the screen, which
immediately gave a three-dimensional, first-person representation of
where her probe leads should go.  Craning her neck, she quietly
observed, "Uh-oh."
   "Uh-oh?"  Martin looked up from his coding after completing his
thought.
   Noriko pointed to a small rectangular access panel several feet above
her.  "Can you reach that for me, Marty?"
   He walked over beside her, looking up at it, then looking around for
a ladder, which, of course, they didn't have.  "I don't think I can.
But maybe WE can."  He put his hands around her waist.  "Ready?"
   Noriko pulled the scope's strap over her shoulder, took it in her
hand, slipped her shoes off and tensed herself, guessing what he was
about to do.  With anyone else, she'd have opted for a safer approach,
and, frankly, his amazing strength still frightened her ... but she
trusted him without question.  "Ready."
   "Alley-up!"  He tossed her into the air, ending his follow-through
with his arms straight up, hands flat and level.  Noriko flew upward,
flipped gymnastically with a full twist, and landed with her feet
squarely on Martin's hands.  She teetered and wobbled somewhat after
landing, and Martin wrapped his fingers around her feet to keep her from
slipping.
   Once she'd stabilized, he walked cautiously forward.  The top edge of
the panel was right at her eye level.  "Can you reach it now?"
   She reached forward, her arms touching the panel at their full
length.  "Another half-a-step, Marty."  He complied.  "Good.  Thanks."
She opened the small door and proceeded to prod around inside it with
her probe leads.
   Martin cleared his throat after a minute's silence.  "Riko?"
   "Mm-hm?"
   Martin spoke quietly, nervously.  Noriko was his oldest friend, but
... asking her about her life seemed almost intrusive.  He went ahead
with it anyway.  "Um ... how've you been?  Before the mutiny, I mean.  I
haven't, you know, heard from you in a while."
   She paused for a moment, then continued with her work, speaking
nonchalantly.  "Oh, it's been fairly dull.  Nothing really interesting.
The ship just lopes around and--"
   "Riko."
   "I know, I know," she recited with a sigh, "that's YOUR line."
   "And doOoOoOoOon't you for-git it," he added in his best Quick-Draw
McGraw voice, which was nearly indistinguishable from Daws Butler's
original.
   Noriko took a deep breath, releasing it slowly before continuing.
"Well ... the Righteous Indignation was launched only a day after I got
back from visiting you that last time.  It was nearly as big an event as
the Crazy Diamond's send-off."
   Martin let out a low whistle.  "I didn't think the WDF could survive
two such parties."
   She giggled lightly.  "Well, it was a close call, that's for sure.
The ship was practically dead only an hour after take-off.  As one of
the few sober people on board at the time, I was effectively the captain
of the ship for the first day or two.  Bucky -- that was Captain
O'Hare's nickname -- Bucky finally staggered onto the bridge after we'd
been at our destination for nearly thirty hours, and had a hard time
convincing the local authorities that he was supposed to be in charge."
   He grinned.  "I'd like to laugh, but I'd probably drop you."
   She smiled at his thoughtfulness, though he couldn't see it.  "After
a couple months or so, we finally had to repel our first attack.  You've
seen fighter combat against Kilrathi, haven't you?"
   "Yeah.  They fight like demons, only less scrupulous.  I've spent a
lot of time studying and simulating fighter combat techniques, and I can
honestly and objectively say Kilrathi are among the nastiest."
   "Mm-hm."  Noriko looked down at him.  "I'm ready for another test."
   "Okay.  Lift your right foot for a moment, please, and hold onto the
wall, just in case."
   Noriko did as she was asked.  Once her foot was up, Martin lowered
his arm and pointed it at the console where a microphone lay waiting for
just such an occasion.  He pulled his hand back, and with a muffled
BLAM, a small magnetic claw attached to an extending cable shot out from
the palm side of his armlet.  The claw snared the microphone, and the
cable pulled it back, depositing the mike in Martin's right hand as it
retreated to its hiding place.
   "Neat," Noriko said honestly.  "I'm impressed.  You've been doing
more than just software, I see."
   "Clean livin', Little Angel," he smirked.  Raising the microphone to
his lips, he cleared his throat and spoke.  "Testing, testing ... I'm
pleased to announce legislation outlawing the Soviet Union.  The bombing
begins in five minutes ... you picking this up, Riko?"
   "Yes, I still see it."
   "Blaster?  Bridge to Blaster ... yoo-hoo, B-man."  Martin sighed,
jamming the mike into his pocket and raising his hand back to where
Noriko could stand on it.  "Oh, well.  Dissociate yourself from that and
let's move on."
   "Right."  Noriko pulled the probe leads from inside the panel and
closed it up.  She removed the small, bead-shaped earring from her left
ear, took careful aim at her schematics monitor several yards away and
below, and gave it a toss.  It bounced off the screen at the precise
point she wanted to check next, and it rewarded her with an image of
where to find it.
   "You can only do that twice, you little show-off."
   She chuckled smugly.  "Just get me to the other side of the room,
Shorty."
   "Only if you continue with your story," he said, already moving into
position.  She kept her balance as he held her little feet in his gentle
grasp.
   She spoke as he walked.  "Well, the first attack was a real eye-
opener.  Before then, it was always strictly Kilrathi craft that they'd
had to beat off, and we'd only heard reports of other types of ships
(another step, please) that attacked the worlds in that star system.
That first day, we were attacked by some of the weirdest-looking ships
I'd ever seen.  Some of them didn't even match our profile records for
known hostiles."
   "Wow.  The WDF has always had the most extensive ship profile library
known, too."
   "We eventually did get I.D.s for everything that attacked us over the
years.  It was quite a diverse group, and it only got more diverse as
the years went by.  I didn't think the Kilrathi had that many allies,
but new ship types just kept coming and coming.  But the one that gave
us the most headaches was this one fighter..."
   "Just one?"
   "That's all it took.  It was a pretty scary one, too.  A deep,
metallic purple, forward-swept wings, red cockpit glass.  Used energy
weapons exclusively.  Only a couple people who went after it came back
alive.  It had Decepticon markings on it -- the splitting image of that
Cyclonus guy.  But that's impossible, right?  I mean, those guys haven't
been heard from since Galvatron died back in 2116.  A bunch became
Autobots, but you already know that."
   Noriko couldn't see the somewhat pale look on Martin's face, which
suited him just fine.  The memory of his assassination was still as
vivid to him as the day it had occurred; he hadn't realized how much so
until that very moment.  "They never found the carcass, you know."  And
Cyclonus was still at large at the time, too, he remembered silently.
   She chuckled; the tone of his voice gave him away.  "Don't be silly,
Marty.  This isn't some comic book.  Dead is dead!  It's all behind you
now."  She bent over slightly to catch his gaze.  "They're not coming
back for you."
   Martin sighed.  "I guess it's not easy to shrug off having a price on
your head.  Even in the relative safety of the Wayward Son."
   Noriko smiled wistfully.  "Yeah, well ... we've all been wanted for
something, at one time or another.  I'm ready for another try."
   "Right."  Using his left hand this time, Martin took the microphone
from his pocket, clearing his throat.  "Mmmmm.  Testing.  Testing?
Nope.  Nope.  Nope nope nope nope nope.  Earth book.  Earth book.  Yip.
Yip yip yipyipyipyipyipyipyip."
   Noriko laughed happily, bouncing on his hand with a small hop.
"There it is!  We fouuWWHAA!"  Unfortunately, her foot didn't quite land
where it had started.  It slipped off his fingers, and, limbs flailing,
she tumbled from her high perch.
   She was only half-way there when Martin stopped her fall, catching
her in a face-down position.  He extended a finger on his right hand,
snaring her scope by its shoulder strap as its probe leads clattered on
the deck.
   He gave her a few moments to catch her breath.  "You okay, Riko?"
   She stared at the floor silently.
   "Riko?"
   Her left arm dragged her hand up his chest.  Gripping a handful of
shirt, she pulled mightily, lifting herself in his arms.  When she'd
turned to face him, her right hand joined in, latching onto his shoulder
and continuing her upward trek.  She continued hoisting herself up until
she was looking him directly in the eye.
   She gave him a warm smile.  "What do you think?"
   "You look okay to me."
   She tilted her head, drawing a little closer to him.  "Just 'okay',
hmmm?"
   He smiled sheepishly.  "Well..."
   Her eyes were singing a quiet, intimate song to him as they slowly
closed.  Her soft lips parted as they steadily homed in on his.  She
could feel a tension building in him -- his muscles tightening, his eyes
widening, his pulse racing.  He knew what she was doing, and his
indecision had him paralyzed.
   His mouth fumbled a soundless attempt to voice a weak protest as she
pressed her lips to his.  She snaked her arms around his neck, massaging
his knotted spine and drawing her whole self as close to him as she
could manage.  Her scope dropped to the ground noisily, completely
forgotten as Martin's hands gently followed and molded to Noriko's form
like a sculptor's, carefully embracing her.
   Noriko only released his lips when she realized how intensely his
hands were trembling.
   She drew a gentle hand across his cheek, looking deeply into his eyes
with concern.  "Marty ... what's wrong?"
   Everything, his conscience said.  You.  Me.  Us.  We can't be like
this.  Not now -- maybe not ever.  But it was a supreme force of will
just to meet her gaze, and once he'd managed that, he lacked the
strength to speak.
   She smiled at his silence.  "I'm going too fast," she concluded
softly.  "It's been so long ... over two centuries.  You're not ready
for this yet."
   It was all he could do to remain standing, though his mind was
screaming with outrage.  Riko!  What in BoB's name are you trying to do
to yourself?  (And to me, for that matter!)
   She kissed him tenderly on the cheek.  "You'll be ready, soon.  And
I'll be waiting for you."  She drew away from him, relaxing into his
arms, and took a cheerful breath.  "Right now, let's get this thing
fixed.  Help me up?"
   Martin snapped back to real-time awareness.  "Huh?  Oh, right." After
bending over to retrieve her scope and his test microphone, he raised
her to where she could get a foothold on his shoulders.  Once she was
standing with the scope strapped over her shoulder, he put his hands up,
and she climbed onto them.  Once again she dug into the opened access
panel, this time making use of a small cache of tools within her scope's
casing.
   As Noriko worked, Martin stood, steady as bedrock.  The memory of her
gentle, passionate kiss made him shiver inside, a combination of ecstasy
and dread.  He hummed an old song to himself, and the words he dared not
speak aloud went something like this:

        Love sees Love's happiness,
        But Happiness can see that Love is sad,
        That Love is sad.
        Sadness is hanging there,
        To show Love somewhere something needs a change...

   Eiko waited, holding her breath, back flattened against the wall just
outside the doorway to the maintenance room.  She'd only caught a
glimpse of them before ducking out of sight, but there was no hiding
from the tiny brunette's words.  She grimaced in silence, grinding her
teeth to keep herself silent.
   I will not cry.
   I will not cry.
   I will not cry.
   I will not cry.
   I will not cry.
   Well, maybe later.

49 ---------- Personnel Review

   Martin made a more extensive pass through the Righteous Indignation's
logs, with the full consent of her surviving crew.  This time, among
other things, he wanted to confirm what Noriko had told him several days
earlier.  He sat alone in a viewing room, in silence and relative
darkness.
   Repairs to the Righteous Indignation were far ahead of their
admittedly pessimistic schedule, at least partially thanks to Chris's
help.  The outer shell was completely repaired, the Reflex furnace was
in top shape, and communications and computer systems were up and
running.  Work had turned to less essential systems, such as defensive
systems, for which Noriko had taken immediate responsibility, living
areas, storage areas, fighter bays and replicators, and Martin had
started work on a set of shipboard AIs to replace the large crew they
didn't have.
   He didn't react when the door slid open, and a young woman with
longish, fluffy red hair entered.  She started briskly toward him, but
slowed her pace when she could see his face more clearly, taking her
last two steps forward with trepidation.
   "Diggy?" she finally said.
   The sudden, gentle sound of her voice visibly startled him, and he
bolted forward in his chair.  He managed to keep himself down and lower
his voice to respond, though.  "Oh, hi, Eiko."
   "Are you all right?  You look like you've seen a ghost."
   Martin sat back, returning his eyes to the viewscreen on the room's
far side.  "That sounds about right."
   Eiko turned around to see what he was staring at.  The screen was
displaying a still image of a violet fighter craft with forward-swept
wings.  The ship proudly bore the Decepticon symbol on the base-half of
one of its wings.  An enlargement inset dominated the lower right-hand
corner, readily bragging the absence of a pilot.
   "What's that?" she asked.
   "'Who's that', I think you mean."
   Eiko looked back at him.  "That's an astrofighter, not a person."
   "Not where I come from."
   She blinked at him, then shook her head, taking a seat next to him.
"Now I'm confused."
   "Well, you've never been to Cybertron, either."
   "Cyber-- you mean you think that's really a Decepticon?"
   "Not just any Decepticon.  The plane's design couldn't be anyone but
Cyclonus."
   She squinted at the enhanced image in the corner.  "Yeah, I suppose I
could see that.  But so what?  We have file pictures of all those guys,
you know."
   Martin nodded.  "True enough.  But the file pictures are from 2100 or
earlier.  This image is from the Righteous Indignation's logs, and dated
2245."
   Eiko's eyes widened.  "That's over a hundred years after ...
Galvatron..."
   "That's right.  And if they're still active, the bounty on my head is
still up for grabs."
   She offered him a sidelong smile.  "As if you're an easy target."
   He shrugged.  "Hey, I'm not the best."
   "Really?  Then who is?"
   "Mmmm ... Gryph was, last time I checked."
   Eiko folded her arms.  "So the Galaxy's top-rated pilot happens to be
a wanted criminal and fugitive."
   "Fugitive, yes.  Criminal..."
   She shook her head.  "Crom ... how can you not believe what you saw
so plainly?!"
   He turned a stern gaze toward her, and wordlessly extended his left
armsword.  The metal sang out, seemingly happy to be released, and
flashed brilliantly in what little light it could find.
   "You tell me, Little One."
   Eiko dropped her head into her hands.  His loyalty was one of the
things she loved about him, and one of the most frustrating things about
him as well.  "You're impossible."
   "No, just highly improbable."  The polished blade retreated into his
sleeve as he grinned at her.
   She threw herself back in her seat with a groan.  She'd walked
directly into that one, and she knew it.
   Convinced that Eiko wouldn't badger him about his opinion of the
Musashi incident any longer, Martin decided to do some other checking.
"Computer, end log search."  The image of Cyclonus and Galvatron
disappeared, leaving the WDF logo on-screen.  "I'd like a display of the
most recent personnel records for the WDF Righteous Indignation."
   The WDF logo slid up, pushed away by a short list of options.
   Martin already knew who he was looking for.  "Command staff."  The
options list rolled away, replaced by a list of names.  He only
recognized a couple of them, and one of them was an old friend.  He'd
look into her file some other time, when he was feeling a little more
curious -- reading what other people think of someone you know is always
interesting.
   "Show me the Captain."
   Eiko lifted her head to see the new image.  She was greeted by head-
on and profile photos of a handsome young man with long, straight, sandy
hair, bright green eyes, a boyish smile, a whisker-like mustache, and,
most peculiarly, long, rabbitish ears.
   "I can see why they had a hard time believing he was in charge,"
Martin mumbled with a smile.  He resisted the urge to compare his
demeanor to Justy Tyler.
   "Reminds me a little of Tom, except the ears are fuzzy and go up
instead of out," Eiko noted.
   "And Tom looks like he's awake when his eyes are open."  Martin
looked over the text, quietly mumbling its contents.  "Buchanan O'Hare,
Captain, adjusted Earth-normal birthdate 4 March 1985.  Whippersnapper.
Hair, eyes, height, weight, measurements, physical strength rating, blah
blah blah ... service record, hmm ... impressive."
   Eiko squinted at the screen.  The letters were too small to make out
from where she sat, and she was right next to Martin.  "You can read
that?"
   Martin did the Eyebrows Thing to her, then continued mumbling.
"Accepted Captaincy of WDF Righteous Indignation, August 2026.  Built,
staffed and launched all in one year.  Lord F doesn't waste his time ...
decorated for bravery -- boy, look at all those commendations.  Quite a
guy.  Injured in service, too.  No armchair captain was he ... married
17 October 2158 to Comman ... der..."
   For a time, the only sound in the viewing room was the sound of quiet
breath.
   Eiko looked from the screen's unmoving display to Martin's stunned
face and back several times.  Finally deciding that he wasn't going to
continue reading for her, she stood up with a huff and walked over to
the display to look at it herself.  Her finger ran down it as she
scanned the text, finally reaching the spot where Martin had stopped.

        MARRIED 17 OCTOBER 2158 TO COMMANDER NORIKO TAKAYA,
        EXECUTIVE OFFICER, WDF RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION.

   A small inset window opened under the words, reacting unwantedly to
Eiko's lingering touch.  It proudly showcased an image of Buchanan,
dashingly handsome in a black tuxedo, and Noriko, beaming with joy and
positively stunning in a white gown, in each others' arms.
   "She's a widow," Eiko whispered after a long, nervous silence.  "I
... I didn't know..."
   "You and me both, Little One."
   Eiko sadly regarded the smiling faces on-screen once more.  "That's
so terrible.  She was probably right there on the bridge when he was
killed ... how could she stand it?"
   "She couldn't.  No more than what happened afterward.  That's why she
locked herself away."  Martin bowed his head, and his voice fell from a
low mutter to a hoarse whisper.  "That's why she's reaching out to me,
now."
   Neither of the two said anything for several minutes.
   "I wonder what kind of a person he was," Eiko finally said, turning
to face Martin.
   He remained motionless.  "There's a psych profile on record, but I
can read psychobabble about as well as I can read Klingon.  Best bet
would be to ask one of the survivors."
   Eiko nodded.  She already had someone in mind, but didn't want to say
so to him.
   "Right now, I'd better look over the records for Nadia, Korren and
Hanson.  I want to know just what kind of a skill set we're looking at
here.  It may help us figure out what to do with ourselves."
   Eiko rose and moved toward the door, but turned back to face him with
questioning eyes.  "Diggy..."
   He turned to look at her.  "Mm?"
   Why were you making out with her on the bridge?  "...um..."
   Martin waited patiently.  He assumed she'd had a question in mind,
but had forgotten it and was trying to recall it.
   Why does she have to be so strongly attracted to you?  "...uh..."
   He smiled understandingly at her.
   Don't just sit there, damn you -- say something to let me know you
still care about me!  "...I..."
   I love you, he mouthed silently.
   Thank you.  "...I love you, too."
   Eiko turned, leaving Martin to his studies and preparing herself to
do a little studying herself.  Oh, there were three perfectly fine
people she could ask to find out about the late Captain O'Hare and his
wife ... but only one who could answer the questions she didn't want to
hurt Martin by asking.
   Martin, for his part, returned to staring at the wedding photo for a
while.  The gleeful smile on Noriko's face brought back his memories of
her from happier times.
   "Poor Little Angel ... when it rains on you, it pours, doesn't it?"
   He was alone for several minutes when the door to the viewing room
opened once more.  A tall, lean figure of a girl stepped in, her eyes
shining vividly in contrast to her dark skin.  Her raven hair, which was
long when he'd first met her, no longer reached even as far as her
shoulders.
   She clicked her heels together and saluted him from sheer force of
habit.  "The defensive systems are fully operational, Hammer."
   At least she didn't call me 'sir', Martin thought.  "Thank you,
Nadia.  It's a little late for you to be working, isn't it?"
   She dropped to a more relaxed pose.  "Not really.  Noriko and I only
had a bit more to do on it, Mako's been more than a litle help, and I
really don't have anything else to do with my time."  She shrugged,
finally showing him a smile.  "Unless you count Hanson, of course."
   Martin smiled back.  "Of course.  You sure he doesn't mind having you
married to your work?"
   "He's married to his, too.  I suppose you could think of it as a sort
of metaphysical love triangle."
   Martin nodded, still smiling.  Then, his smile faded.  "Nadia ... I
wonder if I could trouble you with a question."
   She blinked.  "Sure, go ahead."
   He took a deep breath, considering how he should approach the topic,
and took the direct tack anyway.  "What kind of person was ... Captain
O'Hare?"
   The question really didn't seem to surprise her at all, but she
rubbed her chin nonetheless, considering her response.  "Hmmm ... what
kind of person was Bucky ... that's a bit of a loaded question.  You'd
probably have to ask me what time you wanted to know about him."
   Martin raised a quizzical eyebrow.  "How so?"
   Nadia paced slowly toward him, her dark violet eyes reflecting the
depth of her thought.  "Well, when we first started our tour of duty,
Bucky was ... well, he was a bit of an egomaniac, I guess I'd have to
say.  He seemed to think he was a divine gift to every female crewmember
on the ship, and to many of the ones off-ship as well.  A couple of his
attempted trysts nearly got us into diplomatic incidents."  She chuckled
at a particularly amusing memory.  "Fortunately, his command skill and
bravery were as unmatched as his conceit.  The moment anything seemed
threatening, he was all business.  That way, he at least earned SOME
respect.
   "Of course, he openly claimed that his ultimate goal was to get his
First Officer into bed with him.  He wasn't about to let a girl that
beautiful just sit next to him on the bridge in an advisory capacity,
and she wasn't about to roll over and play dead for a blowhard like him.
She snubbed him pretty hard on several occasions, but managed to stay
polite.  It wasn't until about fifty, sixty years into our tour of duty
that she really blew up at him."
   Martin looked slightly surprised.  "I've never seen Noriko lose her
temper.  I didn't even know she could."
   Nadia took the seat beside him that Eiko had previously used, closing
her eyes and stretching.  "It was quite a sight, and she was really
embarrassed when it was over.  But frankly, it was exactly what Bucky
needed.  She laid down the law for him, and told him her opinion of him
under NO uncertain terms.  You've never seen a guy so crestfallen in
your life.  Noriko was the hero of every girl on the ship, besides her
usual combat-hero status."
   Gotta remember to find out just what she does, too, Martin noted.
   Nadia leaned forward, carefully considering the images on the screen
across the room from her with a smile.  "Strangely enough, I think it
wasn't long after that when Bucky and Noriko started going steady."
   Martin's eyebrows went up.  "Well, there's a twist."
   Nadia chuckled.  "No doubt -- it really surprised everyone.  But it
was no less a surprise than how civil Bucky had suddenly become.  It was
almost as if he was becoming a different person.  Most people thought it
was just part of his grand scheme to get Noriko ... until they actually
spoke with him.  He was genuinely changed.  Even after all these years,
I can only guess that her lecture had shaken him to his core,
dismembering everything he thought he should be."
   "And she fell in love with this ... 'new' Bucky."
   She met his gaze evenly and nodded.
   "Could you describe him to me?"
   Her eyes regained their thoughtful state as she considered her
response.  "Well, in combat he was still the same person -- quick on his
feet, courageous, unwavering -- ready to give his life to protect his
ship and everything we all believed in.  In all other respects, he just
about did a one-eighty.  Where he'd been brash, lecherous,
overconfident, flighty and arrogant before, he became somewhat soft-
spoken, noble, cautious, faithful and ... even humble.  It didn't happen
overnight, of course, but it did happen.  Whatever the reason, everyone
thought it was an improvement.
   "No one knew just how deep these changes were until he finally popped
the question to her.  That first day she wore his engagement ring, her
smile was so radiant I was sure she would explode.  And I knew their
love would last as long as they lived..."  Nadia fell silent, her gaze
falling sadly to the floor.
   Martin considered this silently, then looked back to Nadia.  "Thank
you.  I'm sorry if this was a bother."
   She smiled timidly back at him.  "It's no problem.  Just telling you
about him ... about them ... brought back a lot of happy memories for
me.  I just hope she'll be able to be happy again..."  She released a
soft sigh, then stood and headed for the door.
   "One last thing, Nadia."
   She stopped at the doorway, whirling to face him.  "Yes?"
   He put on a cheerful grin and, in a voice filled with menace, said,
"If you ever salute me again, I'll break your kneecaps."
   She gave him a sharp salute, stuck out her tongue at him, and ran out
the door, laughing.
   Martin sat back, his smile changing to a look of concern.  Humble ...
soft-spoken ... faithful ... cautious ... noble.  Sounds like an
idealization of someone I know.
   It was several minutes before Martin went on with his review.

50 ---------- Battle Lines

   Eiko stopped, considering the door she was about to enter.  She
thought carefully about what she should say, and even more carefully
about what she should leave unsaid.  After all, she was preparing to
question a recently widowed woman; it wouldn't be right to put such a
person through the emotional wringer all over again.
   Taking a deep breath, she pressed the doorchime.  It twittered
pleasantly.  "Just a minute," sang the voice within.  Eiko took this
opportunity to tuck the back of her soft yellow blouse a little more
completely into her short, navy-blue skirt.
   Now, remember to be civil, Eiko reminded herself.  She's just having
a hard time dealing with her troubles, and she's looking for some way to
stabilize.  Who have you ever known to be more stable than--
   The door slid open with a soft "whoosh", catching Eiko a bit by
surprise.  She looked slightly down, and was greeted by a pair of warm,
brown eyes and an angelic smile.
   "Oh, hello!" the auburn-haired beauty lilted.  "Please, come in!"
Noriko brushed her hair away from her left ear, stepping aside to allow
her visitor into her room.
   "Um ... thanks."  Eiko returned Noriko's congenial smile as best she
could.  She walked tentatively into the room and past her hostess, with
the door rapidly hissing shut behind her.  Eiko made a quick glance
around the room as she entered.  It was just about identical to the
suite she shared with Martin, with only minor changes in the layout and
completely different decor.
   Noriko followed her into the room, tugging on her fluffy, light gray
WDF-insignia sweater, pulling it down over the hips of her white denim
trousers.  She walked past her and into the kitchenette.  "I was just
settling down to relax for a while, and I'd love some company.  Care to
join me in a cup of tea?"
   "It might be a little crowded," Eiko deadpanned without thinking.
She immediately dropped her head onto her hand, groaning at the joke.
   Noriko just giggled in response, already returning with a tray
populated by four cups, some tea bags, and a teapot of hot water.
"Sounds like you've been hanging around Marty too long.  His sense of
humor's so dry it could sap the water from a desert."  She put the tray
down on a low glass table and seated herself on the sofa.
   Eiko followed suit.  "Yeah, I noticed."  She accepted an empty cup
from Noriko and looked at it carefully, slowly rotating it in her hands.
"Wow, I haven't done tea this way since I discovered replicators."
   Noriko poured herself a cupful of hot water.  "I prefer it this way.
It doesn't turn out the same every time."  She held the teapot out,
wordlessly offering to do the same for Eiko's cup.
   Eiko nodded with a smile, holding the cup over the tray with both
hands.  Noriko had only begun to pour water into the cup when Eiko
inadvertently crushed it; shards of china tinkled noisily onto the tray
and table, and Eiko shrieked, quickly yanking her arms back as the water
scalded her hands.
   Noriko gasped and immediately pulled the pot upright, setting it on
the tray.  "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry!  I'll get a towel!"  She dashed back to
the kitchenette and returned with a soft pink towel.  "Here you go.
Gosh, I'm so sorry ... that must have been a bad cup."
   Eiko accepted the terrycloth peace offering with a pained smile and
began drying her hands.  "It's all right, it's all right.  It wasn't the
cup -- it was me."
   Noriko returned to her seat, pouring another cup of water and looking
slightly confused.  "What do you mean, 'it was you'?  I don't follow."
   Eiko waved her hands briskly, cooling them off.  "It's part of who I
am.  On my world, 'Eiko' is the name for girls born with the gift of
physical strength."
   Noriko's eyes glimmered with a hint of comprehension, meeting Eiko's
gaze as her fingers reached for a tea bag.  "Oh, I see.  Kind of like
the way Marty became after the Cybertron incident."
   "Sort of, except I've been this way since I was little."
   "Really?  What was that like?"  Noriko began dipping her tea bag into
her cup.
   Eiko reached over for a bag as she began.  "It had its ups and downs.
People like me have been the heroes and heroines of our race for
generations, so my destiny was pretty much laid out for me the minute I
crushed my first rattle.  My family had to move, and we weren't that
well-off to start with ... I was an only child.  I was able to make a
few friends, but not many.  Most people were afraid of me -- including
my parents."
   Noriko took a sip of her tea.  "I'd never have thought of it that
way.  That sounds awful ... did things change once you were on the
Wayward Son?"
   "Not really."  Eiko was tugging on her tea bag, making it submerge
and surface with a slow rhythm.  "Guys tend to be afraid of girls who
can accidentally crush their hands.  I could get along for day-to-day
work, sure, but there was no one to really get close to.  It took me a
while to find someone who could accept me for what I am."  She smiled.
"It was the least I could do to return the favor for him, when the time
came."
   Judging that she'd darkened the water sufficiently, Eiko carefully
raised the cup to her lips and took a sip.  The bittersweet aroma and
flavor thrilled her senses.  She closed her eyes to savor the moment,
and unexpectedly found herself remembering the first time she'd kissed
him.
   She lowered the cup slowly, allowing the pleasant sensation to linger
for a moment.  She opened her eyes and looked at her hostess with a
smile.  "So, what was it like to be normal?"
   Noriko lowered her cup thoughtfully, returning Eiko's gaze.  "I don't
think I'm the right person to ask."
   "Oh, come now," Eiko prodded casually.  "I haven't seen you bending
steel with your bare hands."
   Noriko stared wistfully into her cup.  "You don't need super-human
strength to be out of place -- out of time."
   Eiko took another sip.  "This time, I think I'm the one who doesn't
follow."
   Noriko spoke quietly.  "I was born some two centuries before I'd ever
heard of the Wedge Defense Force or Omega-2.  I was the only daughter of
a famous war hero ... and orphaned before my fourteenth birthday.  I was
enrolled in a mecha pilots' school, to be a hero like Papa.  Everyone
treated me like I was just looking for handouts and special favors, with
only a few exceptions."
   Eiko was frozen speechless, her cup nearly to her lips, hanging on
Noriko's every word.  Noriko didn't notice.
   "One was a girl named Kazumi Amano, the ace pilot of the school.  She
kind of 'adopted' me as her little sister, and we became a team.  I also
had a friend my age, Kimiko, but once I was teamed with Big Sister I
didn't see very much of her -- not to mention she wasn't 'my age' for
long.  Then there was the school's taskmaster coach.  He was a friend of
my father's, and was determined to see me become the kind of hero Papa
would have been proud of.
   "Even then, I was just a means to an end to for them.  Kimiko kept
asking me for favors, always on behalf of her children; it broke my
heart every time I had to turn her away.  Big Sister thought I was
worthless in the battlefield and tried to have our team disbanded.  I
took another partner, Toren, and let him get killed our first time out.
I've never felt so bad about anything in my life...  And Coach just kept
working me and working me until I could barely stand.
   "I eventually got the chance to prove myself to him, and to Big
Sister, too.  It was a desperate situation, the kind they were sure I'd
never be able to survive -- but I pulled through, and I won.  Only then
did they show any confidence in me, because I was finally a fighter ...
a soldier ... a hero."
   The long pause that followed allowed Eiko to finally take another sip
from her teacup.  Having been wrapped up in her own problems for so
long, she'd had no idea that just being alive was enough to make for a
complicated life.
   "So," Eiko finally said, "how about you?  Were things any different
for you once you were in the Wedge Defense Force?"
   Noriko lowered her cup from her lips.  "A little.  I joined up back
before the Salusians declared a formal alliance, so the place was a lot
smaller.  And for a while, at least, I had a really good friend ...
which was something I really needed.  But we were separated when he left
aboard the Wayward Son."
   I wonder who that could be, Eiko thought sarcastically to herself,
taking another sip.
   "We'd see each other when the Son would visit UP, but then I got
assigned to the Righteous Indignation.  I couldn't refuse the commission
-- after all, the ship had been designed specifically to make use of my
talents.  So we said our farewells, and off I went.  We kept in touch
for a time, but I was so sure I'd never see him again ... like everyone
else I've ever cared for."
   Noriko shook her head slightly, shrugging off the memories of her
quiet despair.  "Anyway, getting back to your question -- once I was on
the Indignation, things were pretty much back to normal for me.
Everyone looking at me and expecting something that I may or may not
have been.  A great soldier, a great leader, a great fighter ... a great
lover ... everyone saw something they wanted me to be."
   She took a slow sip and held the cup in her hands.  She stared into
its swirling steam, willing an image to appear in its space.  "But I
never forgot the one person who just wanted me, who loved me, not for
who I could be ... but for who I was.  I've always cherished him."  Her
voice fell to a dainty whisper as she added, "And I always will."
   Eiko bowed her head, staring at the brown pool in her cup.  "This is
excellent tea, Noriko," she said after a time.  She would have said
something about the weather, if there was any weather to talk about in a
space station.
   Noriko nodded absently with a quiet "thank you", continuing to sip at
her tea.  Her eyes betrayed her state of mind; she was lost in memories.
   Eiko waited a little longer, then sighed.  Guess it's time to get
down to business, she decided.  "Noriko ... I'm curious.  How would you
describe -- Captain O'Hare?"
   The mention of his name took Noriko completely by surprise, and she
reacted almost as if she'd been physically struck.  Her widened eyes
slowly sought out Eiko's gaze.  "Wh-why do you ask?"
   Eiko covered her immediate smug suspicion with a friendly little
smile.  So, she was hoping I wouldn't find out.  Probably hoped to keep
Diggy in the dark about it, too.  "I'm just curious.  I heard his name
mentioned a couple times by Hanson and Korren, but they just snickered
when I asked what kind of guy he was."
   The response seemed to satisfy Noriko, but she continued to give Eiko
nervous glances as she spoke.  "Oh, um ... he was a pretty headstrong
guy when he started out.  Rude, outspoken -- a bit of a flirt, too.  I
really didn't like him much at first.  I wasn't even sure why he'd been
made Captain until the first time we were in action."
   "His personality was more suited to combat?"
   Noriko managed to relax a bit as she sipped from her teacup.  "Not so
much that, as he seemed to actually be a different person then.  It was
really strange to see.  Most of the time, I could almost feel him
undressing me with his eyes when he looked at me."
   Eiko smirked.  "Like the first few guys I knew.  Yeah, I know the
feeling."
   Noriko returned it mischievously.  "So did every female on board,
before we'd even left drydock." She lost the smirk as she returned to
her tea and narration.  "Anyway, that's how he was most of the time.  In
combat, though, it was like he flipped a switch.  He looked at you as an
equal, instead of a toy."
   Eiko nodded, understanding.  "As if he knew when he did and didn't
have time to be a lecher."
   "Exactly.  In crises, he could be gallant, noble, honorable ... but
any other time, he just wouldn't try.  It took a while for him to see
that his peacetime behavior wasn't impressing anyone."
   Eiko lowered her cup.  "He did figure it out, though?"
   Noriko nodded.  "Yes -- but he had to have it spelled out to him.
Once that happened, he was a changed man.  It was weird.  I thought he
was such a creep before, but suddenly, he was actually likable, and he
kind of grew on me, I must confess."  She sighed as she continued, "He
reminded me of--" and then stopped abruptly, holding back her next word.
   Eiko watched quietly, taking another sip from her teacup and doing
her best to avoid reacting to the renewed nervousness in Noriko's eyes.
Yes, it all makes sense to me now, she reasoned; he was just a prop who
happened to remind her of the guy she was really after.  And she won't
even say his name to me, probably hoping I'll assume it's someone else
-- that means she knows I love him, too, and doesn't want to make a
scene.
   "He reminded you of--?"  Eiko decided to press the subject anyway.
   Noriko's hands trembled slightly as her voice diminished to a
whisper.  "...of ... of my old friend.  And..."
   "And?"  Eiko's initial desire not to unduly distress the recently
widowed officer lost a brief and hopeless struggle against her jealous
anger.
   "...and..."  Noriko realized her error too late, stammering, "Never
mind.  I-it's nothing."
   "'Nothing'?" Eiko responded, indignantly raising her voice.  "You
married the man, and have the gall to say 'it's nothing'?"
   Noriko gasped in astonishment.  "How ... how did you--"
   Eiko put her cup down fiercely, cracking it on the tray.  Its
remaining contents dribbled out slowly, but neither Eiko nor Noriko
noticed.  "Why I know doesn't matter.  What DOES matter is that you
spent a hundred YEARS married to your captain, pretending you were
married to MY BOYFRIEND!"
   "No!"  Noriko jumped to her feet, shouting defensively.  "That's not
true!  I was honored to be Bucky's wife!  He was a kind, sweet man!"
   Eiko wasn't about to back down.  She decided to play a hunch.  "And
who made him that way?  HUH?  Who told him he was being such a creep?"
   "Well-- well--," Noriko sputtered, backed into a corner.  "Well,
SOMEBODY had to tell him!"
   "Yeah, I thought so!  You made him into everything you remembered
Diggy to be, didn't you?!"
   "NO!"  Noriko's eyes were welled up with tears, but she angrily stood
her ground.  "That's not it at ALL!"
   "Just so you could finally have him to yourself!  You'd never see him
again, so he'd never know you were making love to him every night!"
   "You--!  HOW COULD YOU BE SO CRUEL!?"
   "I'll bet 'Bucky' never knew you were just USING him to get a guy
he'd never even MET between the SHEETS!  Oh, you got what you always
WANTED, didn't you?  I'll bet you had to STOP yourself from saying HIS
name when you made l--"
   Quaking with rage, no longer able to contain her fury with words,
Noriko slapped Eiko as hard as she could, a loud, solid strike with her
open right hand that left an unmistakable red mark on the left side of
Eiko's face.
   "YOU *BITCH*!"  Her normally soft, musical voice bit through the air
as an accusing screech.  "HOW *DARE* YOU!"
   Eiko stood silently for a long moment, slowly bringing her left hand
to touch her bruised cheek.  Then, gnashing her teeth and squinting her
eyes, she lowered it again, turned to her left, took a slow step...
   ...and whirled, striking Noriko with the back of her right fist.  The
blow sent the little brunette screaming across the room; cups, saucers,
teapot and tray scattered across the floor as her leg caught and
capsized the coffee table, receiving a nasty cut in the process. She
landed hard in a reclining chair, nearly tipping it over, and there she
stayed, nursing the injured side of her face, clutching her bleeding leg
and whimpering softly.
   Eiko glared at the fragile, forlorn figure for a short while, almost
regretting losing control of herself, before speaking, or, rather,
growling once more.
   "Don't ever touch him again, you slut."  Turning sharply on her heel,
she stormed out of the room.  The door hissed open and shut with a
deceiving calm.  Eiko wished she could have slammed it.
   Noriko continued to cry, and not just due to the physical pain.
Eiko's words haunted her, taunted her, and she silently steeled her
defiance and her resolve to reclaim him.  That red-haired bitch's lies
and threats weren't going to stop her.
   Yes, that's right.  They were lies.  All lies.  Cruel, heartless lies
spoken out of jealous rage.  Even she couldn't believe such horrible
things.
   You were a good wife.  You loved Bucky with all your heart.  You'll
love Marty the same way.  She can't stop you.  Nothing can stop you.
It'll be so beautiful, and he'll never leave you again.
   All damnable, thoughtless lies.  Yes.
   They must be.

51 ---------- On the Road Again

   Another week passed, and the Righteous Indignation was ready to go in
every respect.  All systems, major and minor, were repaired and
upgraded.  A fair-sized force of fighters and other mecha were tucked
away in the bays, including Martin's personal ship, the Batwing.  The AI
Team, as Martin named them, was set up and ready to go -- using these
virtual entities, the ship could be run effectively by a crew of one,
until something needed repair.
   They had awakened this morning to the sounds of "Last Train to
Clarksville" by the Monkees -- Blaster's wake-up call for the day, and,
Martin guessed, Chris's idea of a joke.  Everyone else was preparing to
board the ship as Martin made one last run through the halls of Utopia
Planitia.  It was like the day of Sonset all over again; empty corridors
and dim lighting turned the once-bustling space station into a high-tech
ghost town.  This time, though, he was going by it all quickly, in
Rotofoil mode.  And he was alone, turning the events of the recent past
over in his mind.
   Even a social incompetent such as himself could tell things weren't
all sweetness and light with two of his closest friends.  Call it a
hunch, he would say to himself, but can it be coincidence that they
refuse to be in the same room at the same time?  And some of the looks
those two gave each other when they did meet could freeze hydrogen.
   Come to that, where did that nasty bruise Noriko had on her face last
week come from?  Eiko was trying to hide a big red mark on the side of
her face, too.  Just thinking about the two of them doing that to each
other gave Martin chills.
   The worst of it was that they would instantly stop exchanging nasty
glares if they noticed him paying attention to them.  That told him it
was all BECAUSE of him.  If there was one thing he didn't want, it was a
rerun of Kimagure Orange Road in real life.  Aside from that, he was
pretty open.
   Speaking of open, the gang had never really made a decision about
what to do with themselves, now that they were finally bugging out of
UP.  Being in the WDF had allowed them to do all they'd ever really
wanted, anyway, and leaving it behind seemed unthinkable.
   It was also unavoidable.
   With a sigh, Martin rounded a corner.  Most of the lights were
finally out, as he'd just confirmed; Chris would shut the rest of them
off from the Constellation's link to Bombsight.  It was time to go.

   Returning to human form in the lift after saying what he hoped would
be a temporary farewell to Chris and Katie -- they were going to visit
Meizuri to see if the 3WA knew anything more about what had become of
the WDF -- Martin chose a somewhat more official-looking variant to his
classic Gizmonic jumpsuit, with the appropriate insignias and a proper
collar.  The door hissed open, and Martin walked onto the bridge, a
sight with which he would become very familiar in the future.
   Chairs for the Captain and Executive Officer were on a raised
platform in the center, slightly higher than the seats that ringed the
outside edge of the bridge for the other various duty stations.  Martin
had added quite a bit of functionality to the Captain's chair, allowing
him, if needed, to pilot the ship alone, but the necessary controls
remained hidden until summoned.  Helm and Nav were side-by-side, as
always, directly between the Captain and the viewscreen; Engineering to
his left and slightly behind, and Communications to his right.  The area
between the Captain and the other stations was slightly recessed, with a
low railing separating it from some of the other stations -- it reminded
Martin strongly of a square version of an old Star Trek bridge.
   The entire crew was there, and all hands were currently engaged a
heated debate which seemed to have Blaster at its center, though not as
a participant.  He gave the chaos another moment to rage before quieting
it.
   "All right, break it up, break it up!"  Martin forced his way to the
center of the crowd, waving his hands to calm them.  Eiko and Noriko
were both present, remarkably, but were just ignoring each other.  With
their full attention, he put his fists on his hips.  "Now, could exactly
one person tell me what's going on?"
   Of course, everyone started at once, each saying it in a different
way.  Martin just let his head drop.  Everyone quieted again, and all
eyes turned to Blaster, who'd remained silent.
   Martin took the hint.  "Okay, Blaster -- looks like you have the
floor."
   Blaster, for his part, said nothing.  Instead, he transformed into
his 'boom-box' mode, and his speakers replayed the cause of the
excitement.
   "--dy Lightfoot!  Repeat, callin' Funkotron Control ... this is the
Freddy Lightfoot!  We're bein' attacked by the pirates!  Escort fighters
toasted!  Shields gone!  Send help as fast a--"  The panicked voice was
abruptly squelched.
   Blaster reassumed his bipedal form, and all eyes turned toward
Martin, who slowly rubbed his chin.  Taking a deep breath, he spoke.
   "Blaster -- could you open an audio channel to the Funkotron
authorities?"
   "Right away, Hammer."  A mixture of hopeful and confused glances were
exchanged among the small crowd as Blaster pecked rapidly at the keys on
his console.
   A console speaker crackled to life.  "Yo, Funkotron Control."
   Martin smirked.  "Funkotron Control, this is the WDF Righteous
Indignation.  We just picked up a distress call from the Freddy
Lightfoot in your system.  Do you need any assistance?"
   "WDF?  Nobody heard from the WDF in a couple months, man!"
   "Yes, I know.  We're in the middle of a ... resource crunch.  Could
you use some help?"
   "Hey, if you can swing it, that'd be fresh.  These pirates've been
givin' us the business for a while now.  We've been tryin' t'make 'em,
but they're slippery mothers, and bad news, too."
   "We'll be over as soon as we can manage.  Righteous Indignation out."
Martin turned to face the crowd, scowling in mock irritation.  "Well,
what're you waitin' for?  Don't just stand there with your mouths
hangin' open and your pop-eyes poppin' -- get this thing out of here!"
   As a man, the entire group gave him a sharp salute, and stuck their
tongues out at him.  Then, laughing like maniacs, they set about the
business of launching the ship.
   Martin took the Captain's chair, with Noriko at his right.  Though
she was technically the most qualified for command, she'd deferred to
her role as Executive Officer.  Nadia sat at the Engineering station,
Korren and Tom sat at Helm and Navigation, respectively, and Blaster
remained at Communications.  Everyone else had places to sit, too, but
their consoles only mimicked the functionalities of the others, along
with serving for other non-essential functions.
   Danilia was giggling madly, beside herself with glee.  "We're gonna
go help people!  Yaaaayyyy!"
   Martin looked around, making sure everyone had a seat.  "Is everybody
happy?" he called out in a nasal voice, not unlike a recording from the
1930's or sooner.
   "Well, Dani sure is," Tom rep